Now on Kickstarter is an occasional look at some live projects that happen to have caught my fancy. Today I’m highlighting an old RPG being updated for compatibility with Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition and a returning card game with even more content. Before we launch into the usual games, however, let’s take a look at a book for kids …
Never, Never Quit: Karen Hallion is an illustrator who make some just absolutely fantastic, and sometimes inspirational, geeky material. I have an actual clock with Hallion’s 13th Doctor/It’s About Time illustration, which is possibly the corniest thing I own, but she’s probably best known for her “She-Series” portraits. Never, Never Quit is a slightly autobiographical picture book about a geeky young girl (Celara) who wants to be an artist, and learns the importance of sticking with things. A physical book is $20, the project is fully funded, and it ends on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.
ROBA Champion Edition: I first played Radiant: Offline Battle Arena at GenCon 2017, before its first turn on Kickstarter, and I thought it was great – despite the fact that I’ve never actually played an online battle arena game (apparently “lanes” are a big thing in both video games and electoral primary analysis these days). It’s had great success since it’s original launch, and now it’s taking a second turn on Kickstarter (as games often do these days) re-offering the base game with expansions and upgraded components. The core gameplay of ROBA is to select three out of the available heroes , mix their custom decks together, and then battle across three lanes to destroy each other’s divine conduits and, ultimately, their deity. The Champion Edition (which includes the base game and three roster expansions) ups the number of heroes to 18 and decent storage for all of it. You can pick up the Champion Edition for €55 (options to just get the base game or just get the expansions are also available. The project is fully funded and ends on Friday, March 20, 2020.
Legendlore: Stop me if you’ve heard this one. An RPG is getting updated to be compatible with 5E … I know, I know, it feels like about half of the RPG projects on Kickstarter these days are either supplements/accessories for 5E or 5E compatible RPGs. But Legendlore has tickled my fancy. The origins of Legendlore start back with a comic called The Realm, first published in 1986, back when The World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game was still just Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (no bloody 2, 3, 4, or 5E). In a concept already familiar from the 1983-85 D&D cartoon, The Realm (later Legendlore) featured a group of four teenagers who were transported from Earth to a fantasy world, taking on the role of well-known fantasy RPG archetypes. In the roleplaying game, the player characters are similar – fantasy avatars based on the players. The updated Legendlore, from Onyx Path Publishing, adds a number of things to breath new life into this concept. The player characters are not the first visitors from Earth, and they will encounter the legacies of prior visitors, and create their own. The Realm will also change each of the characters, who must fulfill a chosen destiny (“Heir to the Mountain” or “Avatar of Peace,” for example). And, because this is Onyx Path in 2020, the setting is more diverse and the characters are not just translations of the players’s outward appearance, but rather translations of the players as they identify. A traditionally-printed hardcover is $50, with various other options available. Legendlore (which, unlike the prior two projects mentioned, only recently started) is not yet funded, and the project runs through April 9, 2020.
Also check out:
- Vampire: the Masquerade – Vendetta, a card-based area control/conflict game pitting the clans of the Camarilla against each other as they vie to seize praxis.
- Pasión de las Pasiones, a PBTA RPG from Magpie Games based on telenovellas (ends on Friday, March 20)
- Ptolus: City by the Spire, a 5E (and Cypher System) update of Monte Cook’s massive, massive urban campaign setting and a campaign to go with it.