Showing posts with label Kickstarter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kickstarter. Show all posts

Friday, June 13, 2014

Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition Kickstarter

If there are two things that I love in this world it's drinking and gaming. And while most games go well with drinking some decide to go one step further and combine the two -- Drinking Quest is one such game. You likely have heard of this drinking/RPG/Card game, created by Jason Anarchy, before as it has three sets of cards out already. A recently started Kickstarter (which, at the time of this writing has already passed its funding goal) has set out to combine the three sets into one box set and make other improvements and changes to the game -- this binding of sets is called Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition. Before any more on the Kickstarter, though, let's get back into the groove of these articles with a little bit of information on the game.

Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition (DQT from here on) is a tabletop RPG in a fantasy parody setting. You have character sheets, dice and cards that act as the GM. In DQT, the dice used are a D4, D6, and D8 -- which is a departure from the 3D6 used previously. Sounds pretty basic? Well, from the look of it the game is a rules light RPG that is more centered around the experience than hardcore RPG'ing (and, with the element of drinking, that is likely for the best). There are non-drinking rules included, and the ever-present option of drinking something other than alcohol, though, so this could easily be a rules light RPG for other occasions, too.

But, you ask, what is this going to cost me?

Well, apart from the alcohol involved (which might end up costing more than the game) you have a couple of tiers to look at in getting the game. Do, however, keep in mind that this Kickstarter is in Canadian Dollars and your regional prices will vary. The first tier of interest is at CAD$25 and this gets you the digital copy of the game (as well as other digital rewards). The physical game starts at CAD$44 for US shipping and CAD$48 for shipping outside the US -- these tiers also include the physical stretch goal rewards. Higher tier pledges get you more goodies like t-shirts or prototype cards.

Lastly, to fully get back into the groove -- my favorite section: the Kickstarter judgement.

The first thing to note is that it has already hit its funding goal and is almost at its first stretch goal with 20 days (as of this writing) to go. Clearly, it has done its job. Not to skimp on the judging, though, let's start with the video. It's just shy of 2 minutes long, is well made, has all the information you really need and includes numerous fiery explosions. It is a solid video -- not the kind that you go out of your way to get people to watch kind, but a very good video.

The information in the body of the Kickstarter page is emphasized with bullets and bold words making it easy to quickly parse the important tidbits as you scan the page. That is very important.  There are large, colorful and detailed images that show off the game box and several cards. Also important. And, towards the end, the pledge tiers are explained with colorful images of what you get. The first stretch goal also has the image treatment, which is good. All in all the page is well done, though I would have liked to see some images of the rest of the contents of the box set and a bit more information on how the game is played.


I don't know about you but all this talk of drinking has made me quite thirsty. If you're thirsty for some more information, however, be sure to check out the Kickstarter page and the Drinking Quest website.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Crowdfunding - Help A Blogger Get To GenCon


If you look to the top right side of this blog you'll see a link to a Fundrazr campaign page. The idea for this is to help fund my going to Gen Con this year (along with other incidental expenses of the blog, like our podcast hosting). Air fare isn't cheap, travelling from the South to the Midwest, particularly when there's a convention going on.

For over 10 years now, the Dorkland! blog has provided news, information and free gaming content without ads or any sort of monetization of the blog. I have also been unemployed for a while now, making these things even more difficult. I know, some will say that being unemployed is a good reason to not go to GenCon, but it makes for a great opportunity for blogging and for freelancing. In addition, as a writer for Bleeding Cool now, I can bring a much wider audience to the new games, news and happenings at GenCon. However, that takes money.

If you have enjoyed any of the free gaming content that I have put up over the years, or if you have received useful information or news over the years, please consider putting some money into the Fundrazor campaign jar. The sooner that the money is raised, the sooner I can stop talking about it here and around the internet.

There are some perks to the campaign, for gamers and publishers who wish to donate a little more money. If you're a publisher, you can get sponsorship of a blog post here at the blog or you can sponsor an episode of the Geeky Voices Carry podcast. What does this mean, exactly? Well, with the podcast it means that we mention your company and/or product at the beginning and end of an episode of our podcast. We will also mention weblinks. It would be something to the effect of "This episode of Geeky Voices Carry is brought to you by..." Sort of like the old soap operas. Sponsorship of a blog post would mean a footer to the post with a reasonably sized image and a link to your site, or perhaps your OneBookShelf pages. Both of these are open for negotiation. Sponsorship mentions will also be included on the YouTube page for the live recording and in the podcast's description. Further details can be worked out, if you want to contact me via the blog.

For gamers, getting one of the perks means that I will run a game for you at GenCon using one of the systems that I have blogged about (either Fate Accelerated or Swords & Wizardry) for you and up to four of your friends.  For the Fate Accelerated game, you can pick one of the mini-settings that I have written about on the blog, while the Swords & Wizardry game will be up to me. It could be a classic adventure reworked for Swords & Wizardry, or it could be something new just for this game. In either case there will also be pictures taken and a blog post made about the game.

I know that gamers like to help out, it isn't something that I am as good about asking for, but I would appreciate any help that I can get. If you can, also please consider spreading this request around the internet. I can use all the help that I can get.

Thanks in advance!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Pasts, Personas & Prophecies Kickstarter

If what you're looking for is an RPG with a rules light system then you might be interested in Sly Fox Games' new RPG: Pasts, Personas & Prophecies that has a Kickstarter currently running (and with just under two weeks left to go).


What's Pasts, Personas & Prophecies (AKA P3) about? Well, it seems to be focused on a story driven game experience with quick character creation and rules designed to flow with play. It also seems to be fairly light on the setting. From the art it seems to be focused on fantasy, with one of the touted features being a very flexible and creative magic system. One other feature is the 'prophecy' system which allows a character to undergo a 'semi-random' story arc that is rolled up, chosen, and created by the group (or, at least a few people within the group at a time). These prophecies can have a positive or negative effect on the character, though. Just hope you don't lose all your money.

Speaking of money, (segue!) how much would all this prophecy and rules light gaming cost? To get your reader on the PDF will set you back US$20. And a physical copy at US$30-33 (free shipping within US, US$12 additional outside), that also includes the PDF. Basically, if you want the book you likely want the physical copy (unless you live outside the US). There are a variety of other rewards up for grabs, too, like creating characters or NPCs, or joining in a game with the developer, Hunter Fox.

Now for the burning question: how is the project's Kickstarter? For the most part, not bad. The layout is nice, there are plenty of images, videos and information about the game (you do need to go through all of it to get the full picture, though). For the things that I didn't quite like we can start with the main Kickstarter video. This video is quite long, the 'background' music is a bit too loud and distracting, and the attempted humor, while I did get what he was going for, might be a bit of a turn-off for some potential backers. There really is a decent bit of information in that video, but it would have been much better if it were a little more serious, straightforward and short. Another part that I didn't quite care for were some of the pledge tiers -- there are several that seem rather pointless and just thrown-in for the sake of more tiers. Also, the price of the PDFs being so close to the physical copy is  a bit of a turn-off from the PDFs -- if it was cheaper it might draw in more impulse pledges. Lastly, while I did like the amount of information it was too spread out and required too much time to go through it all to get a solid grasp on what the game is about. And, really, a game being light on rules or mechanics, with fast, flowing combat and creative magic is not something all that uncommon or unusual these days -- this project really needs to show how it does those things, why its different from the rest and present this information succinctly.

If you are interested in Pasts, Personas & Prophecies be sure to check out its Kickstarter page and/or Sly Fox Games' website.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Dorkland Interview -- The Dangers of Daggermore with Hal Burdick

The Dangers of Daggermore Kickstarter is in its final stretch with just a few days left to go. Hal Burdick, the man behind the project, took some time to sit down with us here at Dorkland! for a short interview on the film, Kickstarter and RPGs.

Dorkland!: How has the Kickstarter project been for you and what, particularly, have you learned from this experience that you feel might help in future projects?

Hal Burdick: I’m reasonably happy with this Kickstarter project. The gaming community is a great one. The community has a lot of passion, a lot of loyalty, and is willing to support new projects. I once read that 33% of all funded Kickstarter projects were game related. I’m just happy that this community was willing to support the making of The Dangers of Daggermore, which is game inspired, but not really a game project.

DL: What kind of setup are you using to film The Dangers of Daggermore?

HB: Kersey Valley Spooky Woods is a haunted attraction near Greensboro, NC. The sets there are ideal for shooting The Dangers of Daggermore. Much of the haunted attraction features dungeon corridors, sewers, and dark alleyways. If they only had a tavern with a sign hanging outside reading “The Affable Adventurer,” it would be a one stop shop for shooting the entire webseries. 

DL: What types of special effects and props will be used, if any? Also, what's your personal favorite special effect or prop and why?

HB: Victoria Singleton has made some great costumes as you can see in the test footage. We got our cool looking weapons from Medieval Collectibles. Joh Harp is the art director of Spooky Woods and does special effects for us. He’s done the special effects for movies like Bombshell Bloodbath; so the effects will have a horror movie feel as well as a fantasy feel with elf’s ears and the regenerating troll monster we plan on having the adventurers fight.

DL: What are the inspirations behind The Dangers of Daggermore? Any particular RPG settings?

HB: Jon Carpenter’s The Thing was a film I ran a few adventurers about in my younger days. The Thing is a doppleganger in that movie, but it had a lot of features of a regenerating troll as well. There’s a classic scene where a head separates itself from its body,  pulls itself along by its tongue, sprouts its own legs, and starts walking across the floor like a spider. Sounds close enough to a regenerating troll to me. We’re paying homage to that with the monster the adventurers fight in the pilot.

As for setting, I have a gaming website called World of Atlas which features my home world that I game mastered for 20 years. Daggermore is set on this world. The key feature of the world is that Atlas is a real being holding up the world on his mountain. The campaign started with characters that lived on his mountain who then ventured out on a mission to save the world from Chaos who had come to destroy both Atlas and the world he held up. I’m thinking of making the world open source and OGL so that anyone can create adventures for it. I know I am frustrated by the fact that all the great adventures my friends created for our gaming group upon Greyhawk can’t be published by us or played by anyone else. 

The website also features tools for those who can’t play as much D&D as they’d like anymore due to real life intrusions.  Though I love Skyrim and Lord of the Rings Online, I also love the freedom that adventuring in an unbounded RPG setting gives you. The goal for the site is to create a never ending need for new adventure modules.  I don’t need another gaming system – that’s a solved problem. I want more adventures so that I can create characters that tell their own story through the adventures they have.

DL: Why have such a focus on RPGs and their tropes -- why not focus on fantasy, in-general?

HB: A fantasy film is like sex.  When it’s good, it’s really good.  When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.  I pretty much watch any fantasy film I can get my hands on.  The stuff from Arrowstorm Entertainment, Dead Gentleman productions, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Sword and The Sorcerer, Soloman Kane, Game of Thrones -- The Guild even counts at some level.  There can’t be too many.

That said the ones that have focused on RPGs have either been funny and campy or pretty mediocre.  The three Dungeons and Dragons films had potential and good moments in each, but none of them brought out the paranoid claustrophobic fear that I think adventuring in a dungeon would bring.  The best movie for this is actually an offbeat horror film called The Descent.  It’s about a group of female spelunkers that encounter ghouls in the uncharted caves they were exploring.  Good stuff.  They just needed to be in armor, leathers, or robes covered in moons and stars complete with a pointy floppy hat.

DL: What will fans of RPGs find particularly interesting in The Dangers of Daggermore?

HB: Hopefully, the old school tradition of it. My first gaming experience happened when there was little more than Space Invaders in the video arcades. The drip of water from ceilings, the listening at a wooden door set in the wall of a long stone corridor, the anticipation of the monster growling behind it, all stimulated distinct images in my mind as I played. Now, I’m just trying to recreate my mind’s eye for others to partake in the same experience that so captivated my imagination in those early days.

DL: What will there be in the film for film buffs, especially if they have little to no experience with RPGs?

HB: The Dangers of Daggermore is not intended for art-house aficionados, nor as a primer for learning how to play the game. Our intended audience is gamers and lovers of fantasy and horror films. We’re using the conventions of the genres to bring the game to life. Intense situations, misdirection, lightning quick decision making, and monsters that threaten more than just your life. As I tell the others, this is not a film looking to bring the character side out of D&D; this is a film looking to bring the D&D out of the characters. 

DL: Why choose the Knight, Elf and Wizard?

HB: Partially, it’s due to the acting talent available. Gabrielle Boni makes a great elf, Brandon McClean makes a noble knight (though he could have been a bard), and James Filanowski is an actual magician. 

The script was written with these archetypes as the names of the character to highlight the fact that this is a film about exploring a dungeon more than about the characters themselves. That said, the actors have found depth to their characters, motivations for entering such a dangerous place, and ways to incorporate these backgrounds into the actions they take in the face of danger.

There is a little vagueness to these character concepts as well, which enables flexibility to how we tell the story, given the budget we’re able to shoot with. Is Knight a paladin or a fighter? Is Elf a ranger/rogue/ or arcane archer? How high a level is wizard, a prestidigitator or a mage?

DL: Why have a dungeon instead of another typical (or atypical) RPG location?

HB: Lord of the Rings, Eragon, and Conan the Barbarian have all done wilderness adventures well.  Peter Jackson did large underground spaces like Moria or Goblin Town, well. They haven’t done dungeons.  None of the three Dungeons and Dragons movies have done a dungeon either. What do those guys have against dungeons?  I mean, it’s in the title of their movie!

In addition to The Descent, I think Indiana Jones films were good for bringing out aspects of delving into a dungeon. The Well of Souls is the place the characters seek in Daggermore and the name is a nod to Raiders. I bet Spielberg would have loved D&D growing up.

My favorite part of ET when I first saw it was the guys gaming at the kitchen table and ordering pizza. No joke. Spielberg deftly brought out the essence of playing D&D in such a brief scene.  Boy, I wish he’d just go full bore one last time on a D&D film. I’d camp out for that one.

DL: Combat encounters are common in RPGs but so are social encounters. What kind of social aspects, if any, will there be in the film?

HB: The gathering of the party is an interesting aspect of the film. Wizard needs a team to enter Daggermore with him, he’d never survive alone, but none would be foolhardy enough to join him unless they had reasons to enter the dungeon themselves. If we are fortunate enough to expand the film to a webseries then those mysteries will be revealed and the social interactions between the characters will deepen.

DL: Lastly, what is your favorite aspect of The Dangers of Daggermore -- at any stage of the project -- and why? What do you feel really makes this film stand out?

HB: Though it may take a nerd, a geek, or a dork to realize it, dungeons are cool!!!

We here at Dorkland would like to thank Hal for his time and wish him the best with The Dangers of Daggermore. If you would like to know more about the project (or would like to show it some support) be sure to check out its Kickstarter page -- in its last few days!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Dangers of Daggermore Kickstarter

Here's a Kickstarter project that blends two things I love together -- RPGs and movies. The Dangers of Daggermore project aims to create a film that is a good representation of what it is like to go dungeon delving in a typical RPG (in this case, 3.X/Pathfinder).

The general setting of this project is as mentioned above -- a pretty standard (fantasy) RPG. The main characters in this film are an elf, knight and wizard. There's a dungeon, monsters, combat, and hopefully lots of experience and loot. Most of the things you want in your adventure.

The rewards for the pledge tiers are where things get a bit different. It seems that the film will be presented as a web series and, thus, free to watch (though, correct me if I am wrong), so the rewards are not the film itself but tie-ins to it. These rewards escalate based on the pledge amount and each tier has two sides to it -- a gamer side and a film buff side. For example, the first tier (US$10) comes with character sheets and concept art of the main characters (the gamer side) and the shooting script (the film buff side).  As you go up the tiers you get more and more adventure material and more behind-the-scenes material.

On to the critique, I should start off by pointing out that the project has hit its funding goal -- as of this writing it is sitting right on it. It's done what it has set out to do, so I'll throw my guesstimates at what might have helped it get there (and what might have helped it get further). The funding goal is fairly low at US$1,000 -- it seems that this is to help produce a pilot episode, so that might be enough (I assume there is additional funding being put into the project). There is also the video on the page -- one that you should watch if you have any interest in this project. I typically skip the videos on Kickstarter pages and move straight into the text -- if you do that on this one you'll be missing out. The text on the page does give a general overview but it is far weaker than the video. The video is quite good in general and shows off some of the potential the film might have, it also shows that the project's crew does at least have a decent A/V setup (though there is some audio quality issues in one section). You also get a lot more information about the project and get to see the faces and personalities behind it -- that's all good. The pledge tiers, however, are not quite as attractive. The prices tend to be fairly high for what you get. If there was a bit more offered on each tier it would make them more enticing. As it stands, you basically are pledging more on the basis that you really want to see this project go through -- which does attest to the dedication of the backers who helped it reach its funding goal. Still, its a bit of a hard sell to the average joe.

If you would like to know more about The Dangers of Daggermore be sure to check out its Kickstarter page and be sure to watch the video.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Extreme Earth Kickstarter

A new Iron Age of comics and dystopian-themed RPG campaign setting is on Kickstarter -- Extreme Earth, promising plenty of corruption, conflict and super powers. The campaign setting is being published by Fainting Goat Games in seven different rules systems -- BASH!, Bulletproof Blues, Fate Accelerated Edition, ICONS, Mutants and Masterminds, Savage Worlds, and SUPERS!

The setting of Extreme Earth is that of a contemporary Earth with some minor changes -- namely, less resources, more corruption, and the introduction of super powers. This all leads to plenty of conflict at every possible level of society and between every possible entity. The emerging supers are, of course, tools and weapons to be used in the growing conflicts.

The price of all this conflict starts out at US$15 for a PDF (US$20 for PDFs of all seven systems -- a much better deal) and US$45 for the POD physical copy of one system. And a limited edition print copy, of a single system, can be had for US$75 (international shipping is an extra US$15 for both physical copies). There are extras at the higher tier levels, if you are so inclined, and they include goodies like getting pieces of art or having characters of your own creation implemented into future products.

Now we come to the 'critique' of the project page -- my favorite section. The video essentially summarizes the first couple of paragraphs of information on the page -- it is done well enough, though the video and audio quality can always be improved. If you would prefer to just read and not watch a video, you can skip it quite easily, otherwise it is nice to put on while checking out the pledge levels and such. The general layout of the page is good and there is detailed information -- including imagery -- of the rewards for the different pledge levels, so everything is pretty easy to understand. The information on the page for the project is just satisfactory enough to make me curious, but I would still like to see a bit more information on the setting and maybe an example or two just to get a feel for it all. As it stands I am curious but not quite assured to the point of dropping money on it -- very close, though. Speaking of money, the goal seems reasonable and they are already around the half-way point with some time to go. There are a few stretch goals listed, which is nice -- I don't like having too many out on the page before the project has funded. If they begin including some imagery for the stretch goals as they did with the pledge tiers (once the stretch goals are the next target), it would be beneficial. All in all, the folks behind Extreme Earth have run successful Kickstarter (and Indiegogo) projects before and it shows.

If you would like to know more about Extreme Earth be sure to check out its Kickstarter page

Thursday, April 03, 2014

Combat Description Cards Kickstarter

I've covered several RPG Kickstarters so far for Dorkland, and this project is indeed involved with RPGs -- just in a bit of a different way. So, have you ever been sitting around the game table (or webcam) and thought, "Wow, combat is so boring -- I wish it could be spiced up a bit"? If so, the Combat Description Cards Kickstarter might be the project you need to liven up the play session.

How does it work? Pretty simply, it seems. There are three different suits of cards -- blunt, slashing and piercing -- each with three different types of styles -- stylish, power and ranged -- that each have two descriptions -- damaging and death. Need a descriptive way to describe something that just happened in combat? Pull a card from the respective suit, read the style and description that best fits the situation -- or just use it as inspiration and wing it a bit. That seems to be about it. There are some 100+ cards in the set (around 120+ now, with the stretch goals, I think) so there are plenty of descriptions to use. One aspect that the Kickstarter page made sure to point out, and that I think is good, is the lack of detailed information in the descriptions -- so they can be used with any weapon in nearly any setting or situation.

Interested? Then read on for the tiers and pricing and such.

The first tier of interest is at US$10 where you can get a digital PDF of all the cards to print on your own. For a physical deck the lowest tier is US$25 (includes free shipping within the US, additional for outside), and then several tiers of additional deck, digital and other goodies in a mix. Some of these other goodies are the Conflict PvP Rulebook from the same company (Conflict Roleplaying) and other gaming aids like battlemaps. If I have read the FAQ correctly, it also seems that backers at the US$25 tier and higher will receive the physical stretch goal rewards, too, of which there are several. Overall, not too expensive considering the cards look to be pretty well made.

Now for my favorite segment: the judging of the Kickstarter page. I really don't have to do it for this project, though, as it has already more than smashed through its original funding goal and many stretch goals -- clearly, it has done something very right. Still, let's run through it quickly -- starting with the video. The video is well made -- seems like there might have been a company hired to do at least the first half of it. The one problem I had with it, though, was the bright ball of light behind the text -- that was a bit blinding and made it a tad difficult to read some of the words. Moving on to the page content -- there are quite a few images that clearly show the product, images that show the different tiers and their rewards, and images that show off the stretch goal rewards. You hardly have to even read the page and you know generally know what's going on and what it's about. I like that. The written portion is okay, as well, and does thoroughly describe the product and its uses. It's a fine Kickstarter page all-around, but I feel it is all the clear images that really help take it a bit further.

And there you go -- liven up the deaths in your game with some ready-made descriptions. If you'd like to know more about the Combat Description Cards, feel free to check out its Kickstarter page. For more information on the company behind the cards, Conflict Roleplaying, be sure to check out their website.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Dorkland Interview -- Orin Rakatha Kickstarter with Mike Penny

Orin Rakatha, the RPG setting with a long and storied background as a U.K.-based LARP, is in its final couple of days of Kickstarter -- and, as of this writing, it only needs a few more quid to reach the funding goal! Despite the busy final stretch, one of the developers, Mike Penny, sat down with us here at Dorkland! to answer some questions we had about Orin Rakatha.

Dorkland!: First up, how has the Kickstarter experience been for you so far? What do you feel you have done especially well? What might or would you change?

Mike Penny: I’ve been a fan of Kickstarter for a year or so, have backed a couple dozen projects and have like I am sure many people thought ‘I could do that’. Well now we are most of the way through and it does look like we will have made it but it’s been a bumpy ride and I have much more sympathy for those successful / unsuccessful Kickstarters I have watched. It has been an immensely exciting project but somewhat all consuming, there’s been some high and low points; the highs have to be the fantastic support we have received I think the lows have been ‘no comments’: we’ve had hardly any comments / questions which I was looking forward to!

The most challenging part has been creation of traffic, Kickstarter is a great platform but you don’t get pledges from them, almost all of our pledges have been via social media links; the best advice I got very early in our campaign was ‘in crowd-funding the crowd comes before the fund for a very important reason’ meaning build your own crowd first; which we did go out in earnest to create from an early stage and it has proved to be successful.

As for changing something not sure I would, lots of people have said that our initial campaign and video were too ‘amateur’ and I agree, we aren’t video of typesetting professionals and our Kickstarter was very much about getting the funding for these professionals for the end product but saying that if we come back to Kickstarter I think we would get some seed funding first for such things on the campaign as it does seem to be ‘expected’

Overall a very positive experience I feel and the support has been tremendous.

DL: How did Orin Rakatha come to be, all those years ago?

MP: Our Live Action Roleplaying campaign started on a world called Murandir; for a while at the time (and this is almost 30 years ago) we had a permanent fixed site for our adventures and most of the LARP games took place there. When the time came to give back the lease on the permanent site and look to the future the decision was made to write a new world to mark this change.
There was also a want to create a world that worked perfectly for the LARP environment, addressing a challenge that we call ‘Suspension of Disbelief’ in that when we LARP we want to minimize the number of times that we have to accept something ‘as it is’ because we cannot physically create it in the real world (something which table-top is not limited by). So we wrote a world that had rules supporting the concept; one of the easiest methods of describing this is via the ‘Laws of Orin Rakatha’, there is an actual law on the lands described as follows: “The Law of Gathering: The people shall not travel the land in groups larger than twenty individuals”, the LARP reason for this is although we might want to we could stage enormous battles every other weekend, our LARP events had 10-15 players and a similar number of crew (monsters) so we wrote a law that made sense of this in-character. The cool thing about transference of these laws to the RPG is that this means that the most powerful unit on the world of Orin Rakatha is the ‘adventuring party’ and here they become the armies of the towers of people they represent.  I’ll cover a bit more about this in the question about sentience below.

The original spark of Orin Rakatha came from a fairly small tight knit group but the development over the years has been handled by a large team of referees and like all the best campaigns but on the tabletop or not by huge input from the players and crew.

DL: What are some of the challenges with bringing a setting with such a long history to print?

MP: The two biggest challenges we are firstly living up to the expectations of those people that have actually been in the world of Orin Rakatha, there are now words with which you can replace a live experience (but we do feel that these live experiences will create, colour and infuse our words) and frankly we want to make sure that those people feel its great, as they will be our harshest critics, get it right for them and we feel it will work for the wider audience.

Secondly the volume of the editing task we have to undertake, there is a lot of stuff to compound into words suitable for a book, and a lot of it was created prior to all the common sharing mechanisms we take for granted today. We haven’t underestimated this task hence why there are 6 of us on the team and we’ve allowed enough time in our plan to do the primary edit (and re-write where needed as not everything fits from LARP to RPG) to meet our current delivery targets.

DL: What unique benefits or challenges, if any, are there in bringing Orin Rakatha back from the LARP to the tabletop?

MP: A fringe benefit to us is that as the campaign has developed over such a long time, there has never been one steward of the history and it has never been collected into one place, this will re-energise our LARP world as much as it will launch the RPG product. As for challenges on top of the ‘we already have a lot of people to impress’ I think it will sit around ‘crunch’ or the stats and rules not covered by the story element, as we can’t directly transfer the LARP stats to the RPG (as the LARP has it’s own unique rule set); so we do have to re-stat everything to suit a couple of the key existing fantasy campaign rules sets, we are currently targeting Pathfinder, the OGL direct, Fate and potential Savage Worlds; this is the area with the largest amount of work we have to do ourselves but we are experienced gamers and are looking forward to it!

DL: Orin Rakatha is a fantasy setting and there is a bit of info about it on the Kickstarter page, but how does it really differentiate itself from existing fantasy settings? What would get existing fantasy-game players psyched up about it?

MP: For me it’s simple to answer this, characterization and plot! This is a long story-line and the characters have actually been played by real people and been ‘experienced’ by hundreds of others. It’s a bit like re-writing a major fantasy novel, after you’ve seen the film but also asked all the audience what they thought about both the book and the film.

DL: 'Sentience' is something mentioned in the description of the game -- what are these semi-sentient lands and sentient towers?

MP: So I am not going to give too much away here! But simply put the land is alive and controlled in a mystical way, it responds to the actions of others to uphold the laws.

The structures in which each of the groups of peoples (small nations) live are called towers and these towers are linked to the mystical power that controls the land, protect the people from the mists that transform the land and also are unique in their own way, in that they are larger on the insider than they appear and have internal climate (which is where all food production and mundane activities take place), you cannot harm a person within a tower nor can you lay siege to them. They are a completely safe haven; but to retain a tower your people must have sufficient power and wealth to do so, this is measured together and known as ‘status’ on Orin Rakatha; so they must send out ‘adventuring groups’ to maintain their status (or in game terms gain xp and gold!) I said I’d talk some more here about how Orin Rakatha came to be; one of the elements we wanted a ‘reason’ for under the ‘suspension of disbelief’ was to answer this question ‘When adventuring as a low level party how come we hardly ever meet monsters that are much higher level than we are? And when we meet some lower level monsters or ones that we out-number how come they just don’t take one look at our cool armour and magic weapons and run away?’ So here the sentient nature of the land actually ‘responds’ to effectively marshal not only its own forces but also the opposing sides of towered people so that much of the time they meet others of a similar rank or level (not always GM’s!) The Mystics achieve this by the pathways being physically changed to redirect those that are travelling across the lands to ‘meet’ in a particular way. The nature of random encounters are also influenced by the lands sentience, many of the indigenous creatures have a simple culture and believe in reincarnation to such an extent that they are actually willing to fight against greater more powerful odds because they will be ‘brought back by the mists as a more powerful creature’

DL: What are some of the inspirations behind Orin Rakatha?

MP: The team and the players of Heroquest LARP developed as the fantasy genre developed in the UK, early on it was 'Dungeons & Dragons' & 'Lord of the Rings' and it's moved over the years as the fantasy genre has developed and become more accessible to everyone. But the single most significant influence during the creation of Orin Rakatha has been our players; most GM's will know this secret - the players come up with all the best plot ;0)

DL: Who or what were the Ikarthians?

MP: The Ikarthians are, or more correctly were, one of the towered people of Orin Rakatha (as described earlier all the towers are akin to a small nation of a few thousand people); they are part of the pre-history of the world (in that they date from a time prior to the player character history) and were in a traumatic incident all destroyed in a single heart-beat. You’ll find out more about them in the starter module ‘Burning Night’ and if we meet our stretch targets the campaign module ‘The Shadow of the Ikarthians’ will reveal all their story).

 DL: The art on the Kickstarter page (which I quite enjoy) seems to give off a bit of a grimdark vibe -- what exactly is the tone of the setting and how is it expressed?

MP: So there are elves, orcs, wizards, goblins, warriors and priests so it is in one way a traditional high fantasy setting but we do agree that it has a gritty more real edge to it, fundamentally this comes from the way the story was written, so firstly in the more traditional sense the story was written down by the referee organizing the LARP events, but what defines Orin Rakatha is the nature of the story development, in that it has been played out and the story developed by hundreds of people both taking part in events and writing and developing the plot as it went along. So as we commute this into the books you'll get the flavour of a number of peoples perspectives on the story. So in short it's a high fantasy campaign but with a real edge!

DL: Lastly, what is your favorite part of Orin Rakatha and why?

MP: For me it has to be the lands and towers around an area called the Ikarthian Triangle, this is made of of 3 towers; one was destroyed long ago (and some of its history is revealed in our first module Burning Night) and remains haunted by its once inhabitants the Ikarthian people; who were all tragically slain in the same moment (the whole tower of 1000's of people all at the same time), and of the other two I really love the Labyrinth of Xenos a tower of enchanters that create golems and clockwork constructs to carry out their will and whom are all linked to a single consciousness. This triangle of towers is one of the few places on Orin Rakatha where the open land is protected from the mists and it is also therefore a hub for the undesirables that have now tower sanctuary to call their home.


We here at Dorkland would like to thank Mike for his time in answering these questions and if you would like to know more about Orin Rakatha please check out their Kickstarter page -- only a couple of days left on it!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

A Dorkland Interview - Nefertiti Overdrive with Fraser Ronald

A few days ago Dorkland! covered the new Nefertiti Overdrive Kickstarter -- an RPG that offers punches to faces and kicks to groins, all in the exotic setting of ancient Egypt. Today we had the chance to sit down with Fraser Ronald of Sword's Edge Publishing about Nefertiti Overdrive and its ongoing Kickstarter.

Dorkland!: Having a successful Kickstarter under your belt already, what did that experience change in the preperation for Nefertiti Overdrive's Kickstarter, if anything?

Fraser Ronald: I've had a successful Kickstarter (Centurion) and a failure (Farewell, Something Lovely). Having a success means I know what to expect, how to get the project rolling, and I also have some support mechanisms already in place, such as using the same company for fulfillment as I did for Centurion.

The problem is that past experiences also create expectations and assumptions, and I'm working hard to rid myself of those.

DL: Why ancient Egypt?

FR: Nefertiti Overdrive is based on a story idea (more of a screenplay idea, but let's not quibble). I stumbled into the story, and the story dictated the setting. I was doing some reading on Sudan, and learned of the Kingdom of Kush. That led me into reading about the 25th Dynasty and its fall to a Lower Egyptian dynasty backed by the superpower of the day – the Assyrians. That sparked the story idea.

I guess I could have transplanted the story. It really would have fit into any setting in which a foreign (but culturally related) dynasty is being removed, but I didn't really see the need. Ancient Egypt is cool, right?

DL: Why wuxia? How does it fit ancient Egypt?

FR: This was also dictated by the initial idea. You can kind of blame the Prodigy for this. I was walking to work and listening to music while mulling over the initial story idea that became Nefertiti Overdrive. The song "Warriors Dance" from the Prodigy album "Invaders Must Die" came on. I was thinking of a scene on a wharf, and when the music came on, I started to think of a fight scene. A crazy fight scene. That's where the wire-fu aspect came into it.

I've been berated – and not without reason – for using wuxia to refer to "wire-fu" (for lack of a better term) – the kinetic, physics-ignoring style of fight choreography made famous in North America by the Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Wuxia is a literary genre from China, and while many "wire-fu" movies are adaptations of wuxia stories, wuxia is not synonymous with wire-fu. In my defence, everyone to whom I have mentioned Ancient Egyptian Wuxia understood exactly what I meant.

In any case, the cinematic action element came into the story at that point, and then it began to dominate the story in my thinking. It was also the reason why this project changed from screenplay or story idea into a role-playing game. Choreographing those fights in my head, and thinking of other cool fight scenes, I decided I wanted to play it as a game.

And thus Nefertiti Overdrive: Ancient Egyptian Wuxia was born.

DL: You mention the rules are similar to some of your previous titles, what are some of the differences?

FR: The main difference is the task resolution mechanic. Nefertiti Overdrive uses four dice, derived from the character's Attributes, for task resolution. One die is used for initiative, two dice for success, and one die for effect. Using things like Luck, a character can have more than four dice, and those extra dice can be used however the player wishes to increase any of the three results. This task resolution system is completely different than those from Sword Noir, Kiss My Axe, and Centurion.

DL: What is there in Nefertiti Overdrive for fans of your previous titles? What is there to draw in new, potential fans?

FR: I would really like to believe I have fans. If I do, it means they probably really dig my games. What those games share with Nefertiti Overdrive is my focus on cooperatively building a story. The philosophy remains one of cooperation, with players and GM working together to create a fun and exciting story.

That's really important to stress. If you are the kind of GM who feels it is his duty to destroy the characters or make it nigh impossible for them to succeed, this is not the game for you. If you are the kind of player who needs to undermine the story the GM is trying to build or point out to him why he is so wrong, this is not the game for you. If you play RPGs with your friends, if you consider it a win when everyone has a good time, and you all try to support each other and allow everyone to have some spotlight time, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Nefertiti Overdrive.

For those unfamiliar with my other games, I hope the cooperative nature of the game would be appealing. I would also hope that potential backers would appreciate Nefertiti Overdrive's easy character customization. While pre-generated characters are provided, the game does include character creation rules, and like my other games, these rules will allow a player to pretty much build the kind of character she wants.

This game is designed to allow characters to be awesome in their niche, and who doesn't want that? This is a wuxia game, after all, and so the heroes are generally going to succeed and be completely amazing doing it ...until the scene in which they get trounced happens, but we're pretty sure they'll live through that.

DL: The characters seem to be quite the motley crew. Why have these specific characters?

FR: One of my favourite movies is the 13th Warrior (I said it was a favourite movie, not a great movie). One of the aspects that I love about that movie is its a-historical nature. The vikings in it all come from different periods and geographic regions, some before the Viking Age or beyond the reach of the Vikings. It didn't matter if a 12th century Orkneyman in an 18th century kilt hung out with a mercenary in 15th century Spanish armour, what mattered was they looked cool doing it.

And they did.

As I mentioned, this all started as an idea for a screenplay. With the 13th Warrior as a touchstone, I let my mind go wild when thinking of the kind of combatants I could have on the good-guys team. I even had actors I envisioned in the roles (you can still see that initial conception at http://swordsedge.ca/2013/05/odyssey-of-the-fall-of-the-kushite-pharaohs/). Those characters changed as they needed to fill roles for a game rather than for a movie, but their essence and backstory remain.

DL: The game seems to be rather combat or martial focused. How do the rules handle other situations? What might there be for players that are not as combat-inclined?

FR: The actual task resolution system does not differ between combat and non-combat. The idea is that for combat, the narrative is cinematic. That applies as well to non-combat, but may include details and information rather than a cinematic description. So, in combat, in order to get the highest dice possible from one's character's Attributes, one might say something like "charging at the group of Assyrians, the Monk drops to his knees just he reaches them, sliding under their sweeping swords, then using his spear, he vaults up into the air, twisting and coming down directly on the head of the leader." Outside of combat, you might say something like "The Monk puts the prisoner at ease with his clownish antics and his sympathetic statements, first drawing out some minor personal details about the prisoner to build rapport, and then subtly questioning him about his contact with the traitor at court."

Both of those are detailed narratives describing task resolution, and both of those would get the player the highest dice to use.

DL: The setting seems pretty light. How well will Nefertiti Overdrive's rules work with other ancient settings? Other settings, in general?

FR: Unlike Centurion, which was very focused on the history and its details, Nefertiti Overdrive is style over substance. The Attributes are specific to the idea of cinematic action rather than Ancient Egypt, so it could port very easily to other settings. I could easily envision doing just about any cinematic action game with the mechanics. What it can't do well is different genres. There are games that do investigation, horror, and cultural evolution, but that's not Nefertiti Overdrive. The Three Musketeers? Yeah, I definitely think Nefertiti Overdrive could do that. Oedipus Rex? Um, no.

I have said the game can handle non-combat situations, and it certainly can, but it was designed as a game in which characters punch badguys in the face (or kick them in the teeth, put an arrow through their eyes, hack off their limbs, etc). It handles that very well.

DL: How possible is it to min/max characters in Nefertiti Overdrive? If it is, what's the most min/max'd character you've seen or created?

FR: Pretty much every character in Nefertiti Overdrive is min/max'd. There is no "balance" in the game. I think balance has its place in certain games and for certain reasons, but it doesn't have a place in Nefertiti Overdrive. That would be Nefertiti Acceptable Speed. There's no reason to make a character with an undesirable element. If you want to make the best damn assassin in the world, that's pretty easy to do. It's actually kind of the point. He doesn't have to have a weakness – though it'd probably be more fun to give him one, even if it is only narrative, like the Serpent's curse (one of the pre-gens).

DL: Lastly, what is your favorite part or experience of Nefertiti Overdrive so far? What do you really think makes this title stand out?

FR: Once players realize that the game flushes common sense and the laws of physics down the nearest commode, things get really interesting. Why not go through the wall to beat up the Assyrians? Why not call upon the wrath of Amun-Ra to topple a column, crushing badguys beneath? Using the shields of one's enemies as a ramp and then launch oneself in a corkscrew spin that only ends when you've impaled the evil Assyrian captain? Check!

Because I love outrageous fight choreography, it's my favourite part of playing the game. I honestly love it when the characters succeed and are awesome doing it. Sometimes I love it too much and forget to really challenge them. Seriously, though, when everyone is having fun, shouting and laughing, recounting the unbelievable last scene, what does it matter if the characters were properly challenged? The players were. They were challenged to create amazing narratives. It's always awesome when they succeed.


We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Fraser for taking the time to answer our questions and wish him well with the Kickstarter! If you have any questions about Nefertiti Overdrive or its Kickstarter be sure to check out our previous article, the Kickstarter page and/or Sword's Edge Publishing's website.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Nefertiti Overdrive Kickstarter

There's a new Kickstarter around and, if you've always wanted to punch faces in ancient Egypt, it might be for you. Nefertiti Overdrive by Sword's Edge Publishing -- whose previous titles include Kiss My Axe and Sword Noir -- is a cinematic RPG set in a totally unhistorical ancient Egypt where the focus seems to be on being and doing awesome. But does its Kickstarter page live up to this awesome? We'll see right after these messages (about the game and its setting).


As mentioned, the game is focused on cinematic action -- it's a wuxia in ancient Egypt. The setting -- as much as I got from the Kickstarter page -- is about pyramids and sand and the Nile and such. Basically, if you are looking for a detailed Egyptian setting book -- this might not be the one for you. The rules and mechanics seem to be made with speedier play in mind -- if you are familiar with their previous titles, Sword Noir and Kiss My Axe, it does seem that the rules are fairly similar which means you can check those two games out if you are curious about how Nefertiti Overdrive might play.  Or you can check out the first pledge tier of the Kickstarter.

The first thing to point out (and it is quite obvious on the page) is that this Kickstarter is in Canadian Dollars -- so be sure to convert for your regional equivalents. The second thing to point out is the first pledge tier -- CAD$1 and you get access to the playtest rules. Most Kickstarters just give you a nod for that amount, but playtest rules? That's pretty good. That being said, if you want the PDF it'll only set you back CAD$7 (and still includes the playtest rules). Print copies of the rules come in two categories -- international and Canada/continental USA. The Canada/USA option is pretty simple -- CAD$20 for a print copy (it includes shipping). The international tier is a bit different. From what I can gather it is CAD$17 to purchase a copy via Drive Thru RPG and the shipping will be an additional cost through them. Both of the book tiers also include the PDF and playtest rules. The higher tier extras include a signed copy of the book, game sessions and being a model for alternate character portraits.

Now then, on to the newer section of this article series -- my critique of the Kickstarter, in general.

The first element you see on the page is, of course, the video. Which is done pretty well. It is short and covers as much relevant information as possible. The one minor problem that I had with the video was the sound level -- it just seemed a bit low.

The Amazon, one of the playable characters.
Next is the general content of the page -- it's laid out in a standard Kickstarter way. There is plenty of description to give an idea of what the game is about, though it could use a bit of editing to clean it up and better organize the information. There is also some decent character art present. Some of the best information on the page is in the form of links to Sword's Edge Publishing's website that contains various previews and information about Nefertiti Overdrive, which is nice to see, though some of that information might should be pulled to the Kickstarter page to help flesh out the information there.

Last bit is the funding goal and pledge tiers. The goal is CAD$5,000 which I feel is reasonable. A previous Kickstarter of theirs managed to pass that (by a little bit) and the Kickstarter is almost a quarter funded (as of this post). The pledge tiers seem to be well priced, though the page count is not known for the book -- based on the prices I would assume it being of similar length to Sword Noir. That said, having lower prices in the pledge tiers will require having more backers to meet the funding goal.

If you are interested in Nefertiti Overdrive, and would like to know more, be sure to check out its Kickstarter page and Sword's Edge Publishing's website.

Monday, March 03, 2014

Orin Rakatha RPG Kickstarter

Always complaining about not having enough campaign settings to try out? Well, if you are there is a new Kickstarter for you: Orin Rakatha, a decades-old fantasy LARP campaign that is putting itself to paper. We'll move on to the general information on the project next but before that I want to point out that this article -- and all following Kickstarter articles -- will be a bit different as I will also giving my opinion on how the the projects have been set up. That will be towards the end, and since we are still near the beginning -- let's move on.

Orin Rakatha is a fantasy setting that has been designed over some 27 years by associations of LARPers in the U.K. The books will be system-less but feature stats for Pathfinder (and potentially others, like FATE and 3.5).What's the actual setting like? From the Kickstarter page: "a land ravaged by abhorrent creatures, warring nations and powerful magic. Where the only sanctuary can be found within magical sentient towers that the people band together to live within." The 'sentient towers' is the part that sticks out here to me, but there wasn't really much else about them on the page, unfortunately. We'll get into that later in the article, up next is the pricing and goodies.

The Orin Rakatha Kickstarter has a pretty good range of backing levels but the ones we're interested in are the book levels. Starting with the lowest -- just the PDF -- you can get your hands on all of the books in PDF form for as low as £10 in a limited 'early bird' special, with the normal price being £15. For a printed copy you can get just one book for £20 or all of them in soft back for £35 (shipping outside the U.K. is extra). Finally, if a hardbound copy is what you are looking for, there is a limited edition one on offer for £50. Apart from books there are also various ways to get your character into the books and setting material -- either with just text or with art and even a 28mm miniature likeness.

And so we arrive at the new part of these articles -- my thoughts on the Kickstarter project itself. The first thing that caught my eye on the page was the concept art -- there is a good bit of it and I don't know how it all really relates to the setting (there is some description text, but without more context it doesn't help too much), but I really liked the concept art.

The page has a tidbit of information on the setting -- a chunk of which I pasted in above -- but not enough to give me a good sense of what this setting is really about and why I would want to run or play in it. Instead there seems to be a good deal of text given to talking about how Orin Rakatha is a decades old LARPing campaign that has seen a lot of work and such over the years. That is fine, but not really what I am looking for here. I wanted more setting information, less background to the development of it.

The rest of the page basically just mentions that they really want better art, gives a brief description of each book and then the breakdown of expenses and risks. I liked the clear breakdown of expenses -- hopefully it will be something that is stuck to and prevents the wasting of funds (which has been a problem in Kickstarters before).

The funding point may be just a bit too high, as this is largely a system-less setting, but it isn't completely out of the park. Taking off a portion of the art budget to lower the funding goal and setting that up as a stretch goal might have helped to ensure funding is met. The backing levels are good, though it being in GBP does make it a bit pricey for me, at least. I liked the wide use of incorporating backer's characters into the setting and the range of price options for that. You tend to see that in just the higher backing levels of many projects, but its something that a system-less book could really set as a selling point. I might would even go further and include one more lower option in the same vein, if it proved popular enough.

Lastly, the video was alright. It had some humor in it, which is appreciated. The sound levels were a little off during a couple small parts, though. Mostly, it just briefly covered what the page had, which is just fine.

Overall, the biggest complaint that I had was not enough information about the setting on the page. They are selling the setting and the focus of the page should be on that. Especially since there is the nice concept art all over the page -- I would like to know more, which is good, but the information needs to be there.

And that wraps that up, I think. If you would like to see some of the fancy concept art mentioned above, or poke around to see what you can learn for yourself, be sure to check out Orin Rakatha's Kickstarter page and their website.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Why Non-Disclosures Should Be A Thing Of The Past

One thing that we are seeing more of in this age of Kickstarter-driven tabletop RPG development is a thankful end to the era of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) being an industry standard. Yeah, there are still some holdouts, but for a lot of designers and companies they are realizing that NDAs are a weakness in development rather than a strength.

Yes, I can understand the argument that you don't want people bitching about things from early drafts of your game after they've been removed. That is easy enough to deal with, however. Just say: "That's not in our game anymore." Yeah, geeks like to chew up a bone of discontent until it is a little nub of negativity, but really there is only so much that you can do about people like that anyway.

The main benefit that comes from all of this is publicity. A Kickstarter campaign that is making lots of money is good publicity, but what makes better publicity? People blogging about their love for your game, talking it up on forums and social media. Games are meant to be played and nothing is as good for publicity as people talking about how much fun they are having while playing your game. Yes, you run the risk of people trash talking, but you run that risk after release and NDAs won't matter anyway. If one YouTube video of a group playing, and having fun, causes 10 people to look at your campaign and pledge...that's 10 people that you might not have had give you money previously.

This doesn't apply only to games that are being Kickstarted either. Open development can be even more helpful to a game that is being funded the old fashioned way because you do not have that extra push of publicity from a Kickstarter campaign. Don't treat your current and potential future customers as if they are thieves who are trying to steal your ideas. These are the people who are the front line of your game's publicity. Do you want them talking about how cool your game is, or how behind the times you are because you want to make them sign an NDA?

It is time to join the 21st century and start treating your audience appropriately. They aren't thieves trying to take your ideas. Tabletop gaming just isn't important enough for "corporate espionage." Put those beta versions of your game out there on the internet. Let gamers worry at the rules like a dog with a new squeak toy. Let them find the math errors, the spelling mistakes, for you. But most of all...let them talk. There's no point in being quiet and squirrely and Cold War about your games. Let your fans be fans, the bad apples will sort themselves out.

A Dorkland! Interview -- Bulletproof Blues Second Edition with Brandon Blackmoor

Despite being in one of the busiest points of a Kickstarter -- the final stretch -- we here at Dorkland managed to get an interview with Brandon Blackmoor about Bulletproof Blues and its Kickstarter.

Dorkland!: How has the Kickstarter experience been for you so far? Is there anything that you have learned since launching the campaign that you wish you knew prior?

Brandon Blackmoor: I should have looked at the ratio of PDF vs. print backers of other RPG projects. I underestimated how many backers would elect for a print reward level, and the net revenue from print reward levels is (for us) about 50 cents on the dollar vs 85 cents on the dollar for PDF reward levels. As a result, I needed to adjust the price points of our stretch goals about mid-way through the first week.

DL: Why set your Kickstarter campaign in a more incremental fashion? Why the sample character artwork first?

BB: Originally, all of the art came first and all of the supplemental written material came after. This was based on the assumption that people would prefer to improve the core book before wanting add-ons. After the first week, I polled the backers (approx 60 at that time) to see how they would prefer the stretch goals were structured. This indicated that they were much more interested in the supplemental material than I thought, so we re-arranged the stretch goals accordingly (at that time, none of the stretch goals had been met).

DL: One of the features of the Kickstarter (and Bulletproof Blues, in general) is a creative commons license -- why have it?

BB: Because one of the primary purposes of Bulletproof Blues is to provide an open game system that anyone can use to build their own game. In my opinion, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike is superior to the OGL for this purpose.

DL: What sets Bulletproof Blues apart from other supers RPGs?

BB: Task resolution is simple, combat is fast, powers are flexible and diverse, and the available range of power levels is deliberately broad. It follows a middle path between the complexity of games like Mutants and Masterminds and the simplicity of games like Bash (which are both fine games).

DL: What does the Kalos Universe have to offer people who are not familiar with it, but are familiar with DC or Marvel? Or people who are not very familiar with any supers setting?

BB: Kalos Universe is our own superhero setting. It allows the players to have a relatively minimal pre-made setting without the baggage that comes with DC or Marvel. That being said, most of the tropes you would want in DC or Marvel are there, or could easily be added. For that matter, if you want to play a DC or Marvel game with Bulletproof Blues, feel free.

DL: On the Kickstarter page Bulletproof Blues is described as a 'setting-dark' superhero RPG -- what exactly is meant by that?

BB: It's really only “dark” in comparison most mainstream superhero games. The authorities don't turn a blind eye to posthuman activities, and relatively few posthumans put on spandex and try to save or rule the world. Most posthumans have the same goals everyone else does: money, power, and fame. Of the themes of the setting is that most people are not “heroes” or “villains”. There is a great deal of grey in the world (but we assume that the PCs will be a lighter shade of grey than most of their antagonists). Also, posthumans are dangerous: even a relatively low-powered posthuman could kill a normal person pretty easily. That's a bit different from most superhero games.

DL: What are some of the bigger changes to the rules of Bulletproof Blues with this second edition?

BB: The rules really aren't changing. We are adding a few small additions (such as “Skill Mastery”, an advantage which confers a +3 task bonus to task rolls when not in combat). For the most part, the changes are cosmetic: new art, new layout, larger format, new character sheet design. We are also replacing the How To Play and How to GM sections with a “GM Resources” section that will provide some additional setting material and (hopefully) some good advice on running Bulletproof Blues, specifically.

DL: How compatible will content created for the first edition of the rules be with the second edition?

BB: Completely.

DL: Supers settings can get crazy (in a good way) -- what is a moment of Bulletproof Blues gaming that you have experienced and felt really exemplified the game?

BB: One of my favorites was when a character snuck into a mental hospital to examine the personal effects of a dangerous sociopath who had died under mysterious circumstances. You probably had to be there.

DL: Lastly, what was the most interesting Bulletproof Blues character you have seen, created or played?

BB: Probably the strangest was Frogger, who was played the nine-year-old son of a friend of mine. Frogger was a swamp monster who'd been living in the bayous near New Orleans since the 1800s.

We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Brandon for his time and wish him the best with the Kickstarter, which has long since met its funding goal and is nearly past its third stretch goal! If you would like more information on Bulletproof Blues Second Edition be sure to check out its Kickstarter page and Kalos Comics' website.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Dorkland! Interview -- Mutant Chronicles 3rd Ed. with Chris Birch

Despite running a wildly popular Kickstarter, Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment still managed to find some time to answer some of the questions we here at Dorkland! had about Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition and its Kickstarter.
 

Dorkland!: Have you learned anything new from the Mutant Chronicles Kickstarter and what might that be?

Chris Birch: Good question - well I would say that there are so many massive Mutant Chronicles fans who've just been waiting for the return of this awesome game. I keep being surprised every day as more and more join in the Kickstarter - it's like people are coming home!

DL: You've run a very successful Kickstarter before and are currently running another very successful one -- what do you feel is your reason for such success?

CB: I think it's about the huge amount of ground work we do before we get to the Kickstarter - building up the fan base, talking to them, finding out what people really want, not just what we think they want then using that to steer our cool ideas. We already knew what we were going to do with the story, but learning what products people wanted to see first, and what aspects of the Mutant Chronicles universe were more important was a huge help in shaping the releases. We had been playtesting with over 400 groups over 6 months so once you get to those kinds of numbers you can have a great start to the Kickstarter. But then it's about keeping up the hard work. You don't just sit back; you are constantly talking to people, responding, giving feedback, creating new graphics, art and sculpts to show off to keep the excitement level high. So many people think they can stick their new idea on Kickstarter with no backup, no research, and no effort day by day - and that's why not every project succeeds. We're often up till 3am working on the Kickstarter, but also the day to day business of Modiphius and it's really hard work - which is why not everyone is willing to do it. I will say though it's such rewarding work - as you see the response of your efforts almost immediately and get to talk to people who are as passionate as us. 

DL: Mutant Chronicles was created in the 1990's and the old editions show it. Will you be doing any updates to the setting to bring it more in-line with modern technological sensibilities? If so, how? Or, if not, why?


CB: The setting was actually very diesel punk although they called it techno-fantasy. The techno-fantasy is still there but we're defining the tech levels before and after the outbreak of the Dark Symmetry - what do the ships look like before the computer systems fail, and what do they end up looking like. We've drawn together all the disparate stories and timelines in to one, worked out the backstory, filled in some of the odd gaps and answered questions left hanging so people are going to discover all of this through the books. The big thing about the setting is it sits nicely in the diesel punk genre that's appeared which is where it's a 1940's/50's era of technology, everything's bigger and chunkier than it needs to be, engines are massive, vehicles huge, shoulder pads bigger! This all works with the 90's era of design they had at the time, and as we develop the looks of the worlds, buildings, ships and more it will all fit nicely with what has gone before as we'll be reusing the classic Paul Bonner art alongside new artists and the point was to bring the rest of the universe to life, not reinvent it for the sake of it. 

DL: The rules will be undergoing a change, what are some of the changes? Will it still utilize the roll-under method?

CB: Yes it's still a d20 roll under, we're making a big announcement about the rules on Monday the 17th of February, so people will know a lot more about the direction we're taking then and we hope to have a revised beta available about a week later (or before the end of the Kickstarter at least) for people to test out. It's being designed to be a really cinematic system though, allowing to you do all the crazy stunts you always imagined you should be able to do in Mutant Chronicles, without the GM suffering under a weight of stats and modifiers etc. 

DL: One of my favorite parts of the older Mutant Chronicles game was the background cycle during character creation -- what is going to happen to it in the 3rd edition?

CB: Yes, the Lifepath character generation was one of my favourite parts too, and we intend to expand on this, bringing a lot more flavoured events in to the process. It will really help you shape a very cool RPG character, but we'll also have a points buy system for those who have a specific concept they want.  

DL: Why combine the Algeroth and Ilian Guide books into the Dark Soul book?

CB: Well, actually what I should say is that the core book will contain a lot more info on all of the Dark Legion Apostles and then the Dark Soul book will expand on this for each of them as well as covering Pluto, Nero, the Dark Legion's history and much more. The idea was to bring together Ilian's and Algeroth's material in from the two books and enhance it with the rest of the Apostles. We also wanted to show how different they each are - so there will be more defined strategies and the creatures properly broken down, so each apostle has different types of heretic and creatures. The creatures and heretics are all described by how they try to attack - what their tactics are. 

DL: Will all of the original Guide books be given the 3rd edition treatment, even if their stretch goals are not met? What exactly is going to be done with the Guide books? Will they differ from the previous edition?

CB: Yes, we're bringing back all the original guides, though the Freelancer supplement is now included in a specific more detailed guide of Luna for example, and yes we'll be publishing all the books regardless of whether they get unlocked through the Kickstarter. They will be re-written, fleshed out with new material, expanded to be major geographic sourcebooks so, for example, Capitol is also the guide to Mars. There will be a lot more insight in to the organisation, gear and resources, character options etc. 


DL: What is some of the new, expanded content going to be? Are we going to get new Guide books?

CB: There's a lot more storyline to include, the histories and relationships of the Corporations, more cool gear, ships, more guide books detailing things like Mutations (which is will be a growing theme through the storyline - don't worry, no talking rabbits!) rules for spaceship combat, running your own corporation or shipping company - a great kick off for adventures, loads of new content on the Dark Legion

DL: Three campaigns are planned for 3rd edition -- will these relate to the Venusian Apocalypse adventures in any way? Will anything be done with the Venusian Aplocalypse books? If not, how easy or hard might it be to convert them to the 3rd edition?

CB: We plan to convert the Venusian Apocalypse for 3rd Edition and bring it up to date with more artwork, maps and, allegedly, there was an Episode 4. So, I have a feeling that will be really exciting as you'll be able to find out where the storyline was planned to go. There will be a major campaign book (which also reveals some of the secrets) set during the first Dark Legion War starting days after the Pluto landings, leading right up to the final climatic assault on the citadel. The second major campaign book focuses on the 2nd Dark Legion War and is more epic in scale and power. Whilst the third campaign is set during the Dark Eden period (which is still part of the 2nd Dark Legion War) and has a big focus on Earth. 

DL: Lastly, there are a lot of very interesting facets to the Mutant Chronicles universe -- what are your favorite parts of it? What are the aspects that really get you excited about this game and setting?

CB: I think it was the techno-fantasy but with the grounding in the civilisations we know - it's kind of near future, recognisable designs and styling, but the techno-fantasy element lets us do anything. The universe is full of extremes, massive guns, bigger shoulder pads, insane battles and stories. It's the final stand of humanity and I love stories that deal with the epic heroism possible in such extremes.


We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Chris Birch for his time and wish him the best with the ongoing Kickstarter. If you would like to know more about giant shoulder pads, Dark Symmetry, and corporate life, be sure to check out the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Kickstarter page or Modiphius Entertainment's website.


Monday, February 10, 2014

Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Kickstarter

Dark. That might be the best word to describe Mutant Chronicles. Modiphius Entertainment's Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Kickstarter, however, is looking quite bright as it has long since obliterated its initial funding goal and has torn through several stretch goals already.

So, what is Mutant Chronicles? Well, here's an image that I think will help:


Apart from being some beautiful cover art, it shows off some elements that seem to be pretty key to the setting -- the man in the suit and sunglasses is very corporate, there are military forces (with spikes and skulls -- a must), and some alien-looking backdrops. Looking over the setting material briefly, the world feels like Shadowrun meets Warhammer 40k and that is something I find very attractive.

Modiphius is bringing in more than just pretty cover art, though, as they are using this Kickstarter to also re-design the rules and re-write the setting guides (along with adding new content).  So, what will it cost you to get in on all this dark-goodness?

First up is the Player's Guide PDF which you can get for £10. The Core Book PDF is £20. A printed copy of the Core Book is £40 (shipping is extra), or, for the same price, all PDFs that are unlocked during the Kickstarter, or the Core Book PDF and miniature sets (and shipping is extra). Quite a few options at the £40 level. (There are approximate conversion to USD on the Kickstarter page!)

For more information on Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition make sure to check out Modiphius Entertainment's website or the Kickstarter page.

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

A Dorkland! Interview -- Fall of Man

The Fall of Man Kickstarter has just under two weeks left at the time of this post, and we here at Dorkland! got a chance to interview the team over at Samurai Sheepdog about the forthcoming post-apocalyptic RPG.

Dorkland: Fall of Man is being created not for just one system, but with at least four different system conversions. Why do it up front and not set them as stretch goals, as other Kickstarters have done?

Samurai Sheepdog: We like this game so much, we wanted it to be available to play by as wide a range of players as possible right from the start. We knew we initially wanted it for the Pathfinder system, but after some conversations, we decided to convert it to the other systems (13th Age, FATE, Castles & Crusades) to expand the potential audience.

DL: How does your post-apocalyptic fantasy setting differ from others that are out there? What about it will really grab potential players and hold their interest?

SS: Fall of Man is not elves, dwarves and trolls in suits convening on who is going to do some virtual cosplay tonight.  Fall of Man pulls in the world of Gothos.  A world LITERALLY made from and created by man’s dreams, fantasies and nightmares.

The goal of Fall of Man is a game world where the GM and players have the opportunity to adventure in a setting which is dark and full of all the horrors we can imagine. Searching to find that little bit of hope and faith (and perhaps a semi-automatic or a bloodripper sword) just to survive.

We have devised the world so you can go very adult if you want.  Explore what it means to have faith and how that works (even crunch wise!). Play with and tweak to find the perfect blend of technology and magic for yourself and your group.  Is this a real world?  Is it a representation of the afterlife?  Was the Maul the Rapture???  (Note we the game designers feel real world faiths should be treated with respect.  The story is presented so the GM can choose what the force behind the one God is.)

Of course if you just want a world of twisted magic and technology in a post –apocalyptic setting, the crunch is there to work that as well.

Blood Magic and Blight Magic fight and exist alongside the power of the one God (an abstract presentation of the Jewish/Christian/Islamic influences combined for simplicity) and technology. People’s nightmares and even their very thoughts can manifest physically. There is a class at higher levels that as they get closer to death, literally start to manifest horrors around them (let’s hope closer to their foes than their friends).

And then there are those who are wholly fantastical. The elves, gnomes, dwarves and other races have all suffered through the transition. The anger of losing their own home and of the new physical deterioration and mutations of their own bodies consumes many of these new Earth inhabitants and dealing with these harsh new realities influences and guides much of their thinking.

We wanted a world where as adult role-players you could experience something a bit harsher and new, mixed with our real world.  Earth.  But we also realize that most GM’s want to be able to pull in content to what they are already doing.  Thus the game is designed to be compatible with Pathfinder and other systems.  And have easy mechanisms to bring players in…and out of the world.  After all, are we sure it was only Gothos that helped caulk up the cracks in our world?  The crunch is also easy to overlay for existing characters, to minimize the transition.

This is a world full of dreamwalkers able to manifest and twist reality (at first only subtly). Of Asphalt Samurai whose code allows for a mix of magic and technology that keeps them alive. Of undead player races who are ACTUALLY undead, gripped with sorrow and pain and the knowledge of their death.  Sparkling vampires have no place here. This is a world where characters with faith in their one God might see a man save some of his friends by beating a million to one odds of escaping a building that was just ignited on fire by a ball of magic from a rival Arcanist. This is a world where bullets are treasure and a good meal worth its weight in gas.

DL: How unique are your classes? What differentiates them from the standard RPG classes?

SS: They are very different. You have, for example the One God based classes, who have mechanisms which represent subtle changes in the game.   Passive DR and multiple dice to accomplish a task.  Things which emulate faith having real game play effects. 

You have dreamwalkers who manifest their thoughts.  Not in a psionic mind control way though.  It is that their fears (and in many cases hopes) become reality.  It is as though the game is their dream and they are aware enough in the dream to manipulate it.

You have the Face class which tends to be intuitive; able to discern things about the past and present, even manipulating situations with that knowledge in a “crunch” way.   They are of course master barterers and their skill-set helps keep the logistics side of the game for the party in better shape than any other class.

The Mechanist is a master at fixing things, and even at times, mixing magic with technology to achieve the end result.  They can get a tank running, maximize ammo, increase the range of weapons, fix jammed items, and tinker with things to make them better.

The Asphalt Samurai mixes guns, swords, tech and magic and lives by a code of honor similar to the samurai of the past.  Their meditation grants them a sense of hyperawareness, allowing them to move supernaturally quick and focused. Because of this, they seem to end up in the right place at the right time or they are able to do more with each moment than maybe others could.

Fall of Man also has its own take on some of the more classic archetypes. 

The Arcanist, for example, is based on the classic wizard but whose magic comes from understanding the new state of the world, and the boundaries between reality and thoughts.  Thus as time goes on, the Arcanist can take over constructs and even other nightmare and dream manifestations, grant items sentience or otherwise magically enhance them, and even pierce the fabric of reality itself.  However, it still maintains its base in classical spell casting. 

The Gifted is similar to a sorcerer, but their magic is almost always warped.  Maybe it mutates their bodies or minds. Or drains life from them or their allies, and when they can, their enemies. Or emits radiation or toxins as they expel their arcanic energy.

The Clerics of Many Gods have the classical abilities of clerics in other games, but also use the favor system outlined in The Hunt: Rise of Evil / Pantheon and Pagan Faiths books.  This favor (which other classes can gain to a lesser extent) grants them singular special effects which go outside the realm of normal spells, but require time and energy to regain.

The Scavenger is similar to a rogue/thief, but with adaptions for the new world.  In addition to some of the classic high damage output abilities, the Scavenger is hard to kill, can “lick their wounds” to effectively ignore the negative effects of damage (for a while) and gain “crunch” based advantages through the use of the terrain around them.

The Soldier is a well-trained warrior who is adept at the fine art of modern combat, with its roots more in D20 Modern than anything in Pathfinder or any of the other game systems.   But something really exciting is their ability to specialize in different classical solider roles; scout, assault trooper, communications, medic, etc.  Heck your whole party could be soldiers and do just fine (We are sure some of the enemies you fight will be this way).  An example of a bit of out of the box thinking on this is a communications specialist granting the party additional time to solve a problem or an officer specialization granting a number of points to hand out to other character’s roles or even allow a player’s turn to be “replayed” to represent tactical thinking.

Even our barbarian, the Wasteland Barbarian is different than other settings as they often mutant and evolve, often overtime, but occasionally on the battlefield!  Did your arm just get slashed?  What the hell is coming out of the wound!!!!

So yes the classes are a bit warped, but are designed to bring something different, not just in their fluff, but in their crunch.

DL: The races in Fall of Man are a mix of RPG regulars and some new races. At least one of the regulars (the gnomes) seem to be different than usual – are any of the other regulars different? And if so, how and why?

SS: One of the things Fall of Man allows for is leveling in your race, effectively evolving you.  This allows for tremendous customization and grants each race a greater level of characterization.  You’re not just an elf with pointy ears and a long lifespan. You could evolve the ability to see fey lines, lay lines and other sources of magic or divining influence and gaining greater ability when around living non-sentient natural things (trees for example).

We wanted each race to stand out as different.  The gnomes are twisted with something called “the bent.” As they level they gain disadvantages, but no so much as to make them un-fun; it’s about adding flavor.  Gnomes also excel at mixing technology and magic.

Halflings are lucky and love stories.  They have been the least affected by the transition to Earth.  However, now at times their stories, much like the dreamwalkers, seem to actually influence reality, granting unseen but tangible bonuses to them and those around them.
   The Reborn/Risen are PC undead.  Most were once humans before the apocalypse, a bit alive again after it.   As they level in their race, they become more and more like classical undead.
   We’ll leave the others as surprises in the future, but as you can see, the goal is to give a new feel to each race to represent their transition to Earth.

DL: On the Kickstarter page you mention: “This setting is based on the Pathfinder system on steroids.” How so? What might Pathfinder players find that is different from what they are used to?

SS: That is a great question. To start off, we worked this game from the ground up to “feel” like an RPG with strong tactical elements to suit the conditions the players must face. I think at the pinnacle of it “being on steroids” is the revamped combat system. It is brutal but not so much that the players stop feeling like heroes.  We have a great injury system that takes away the abstract view of hit points. If you get shot in the hand, you are very likely to drop what you’re holding or if you are stabbed mortally through the head then the result is death.  However, since magic exists as well, you can avoid some of the worst consequences and it is better than what it would be if no magic existed at all. We do this while also keeping the dice rolling and heart of the mechanics the same.

But it is not just the combat that drives the “Pathfinder on steroids” commentary. Even the barter system, which I outline in a short video, has an elegance that makes trade and barter very detailed while keeping it simplistic from a mechanics point of view.

The races and classes are definitely on steroids too. Gnomes for instance, crossed over from the world of Gothos in a bad way, becoming subject to a terrible taint called “the bent”. This is presented in a way that can have devastating effects on the character but not in a way that will cripple the character and make them unplayable. They are often called the Twisted.

Even Humans are beefed up. They have the advantage of free will and can adapt to use both tech and magic. In the “primal balance” of forces that rage against each other (magic vs science, the one God vs many, faith vs reason) that have become tangibly impacted in the merger of the two worlds, humans get to choose.  I could go on and on! The Elves known as “The Blasted” crossed over finding themselves in a lake of toxic sludge, mingling with their natural magic to form a race of elves only a wasteland would have. The Reborn, people of Earth that died and mysteriously came back but in a state of Undeath, with gaps in their memory and no idea what returned their spirits to their wasting bodies.

I will stop there with one more thing (I could write a book about this segment). Gothos was the creation of human imagination, nightmares and dreams filtered into a state of reality through a powerful being. Now that happens on Earth too. There is a saying amongst the people of Fall of Man.

“Beware the sleeping child for in their dreams the stuff of legend and the darkest of nightmares are made manifest.”

DL: One of the aspects of Fall of Man that immediately drew me in was the artwork. How is the art being used in the book? Is it just in periodically for some color and flavor, or is it playing a bigger role?

SS: For me specifically (This is Doug Herring by the way), I am a very visual person. Art is critical to fuel the imagination of the GM and to give them the feel of the world the players live in. Art is part of the storytelling, which has equal if not more importance than rules and tactical combats. The story of Fall of Man, and its predecessor, Gothos (The Hunt: Rise of Evil), are rich storytelling worlds with deep histories and unique twists on old themes. We have yet to introduce a major element to Fall of Man which was the crux of the over-arching battle in The Hunt series; the factions of The Children of the Waking Dream and the Dark Walkers of Midnar. These cults lay hidden in Fall of Man and the ability to manipulate the stuff of dreams and nightmares has not yet come into its own in the time frame we have set for Fall of Man. It is this richness of the world, the characters, classes, and story which made The Hunt an award nominated setting and spawned many books. Art was the linchpin in the storytelling and this hold true in Fall of Man as well.

DL: Has the team min/max’d any PC’s yet and, if so, how about some tips for the future players?

SS: I will say yes, after a fashion. We have controlled min/maxing through things like the combat system and other rule sets (on-going injuries for instance). Even the most tested, maxed out character, can die from a head shot from a sniper rifle if they are not well prepared.

When I think of this and the gritty level of the world I liken a min/maxed character to Daryl on The Walking Dead. Clearly, he is a better tracker, better fighter, and (in a game term) higher level than most of the other characters yet, because of the gritty world and down and dirty fighting, he is still very vulnerable. He gets to have great heroic moments while at the same time we are afraid he might die.

This is the same in Fall of Man.  No matter the level, or how powerful a character, other players will cheer his heroics but the threat of death will always loom. With a “no hit point” system the character will always be challenged to stay alive and wits will always win out over min/maxing your character.

We here at Dorkland! would like to thank the team at Samurai Sheepdog for taking the time to answer our questions and wish them the best of luck with their Kickstarter! If you would like more information on Fall of Man or would like to support the Kickstarter be sure to check out the Kickstarter page and Samurai Sheepdog's website.