Here’s my picks on what you should check out on Kickstarter this week-
Faith: The Sci-Fi RPG
This RPG uses cards instead of dice, giving it a unique spin on the genre. The background story about living with gods among the players in interesting and the art is gorgeous. Plus John helped playtest the game!
“FAITH uses a unique system that replaces dice with cards. Each player has a poker deck and a hand of 7 cards. Most actions the characters attempt are successful by default, but when another character or the Game Master tries to stop them a confrontation will arise. In that case both sides will be able to play a number of cards from their hands depending on their attributes and add their value to their skills. The highest final value will determine who succeeds and who fails.
These confrontations make the gameplay feel dynamic, allowing characters to perform actions outside the more traditional and constrained initiative rounds and letting them use their resources as they see fit instead of being subject to the sheer randomness of a dice roll.”
Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion
“Ever since its release in 1984, Masks of Nyarlathotep has been considered one of the finest supplements for Call of Cthulhu, a roleplaying classic. Countless players have dared to thwart the machinations of Nyarlathotep and plumb the mysteries of the Carlyle expedition. Keeping this globe-trotting campaign is unfortunately rather a challenge, with scores of NPCs, dozens of locations, hordes of cultists, and at least one very angry Outer God. Needless to say, even the best Keeper could use a little help.
That is where The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion comes in.Drawing on the wisdom and experience of the members of Yog-Sothoth.com, the première site for Lovecraftian role-playing, the Companion gathers together tips and advice for Keepers wishing to run Masks of Nyarlathotep. Within these pages are detailed nearly every imaginable facet of the campaign, from starting play to ending things with a bang, explaining, exploring, and expanding the classic work. There is something for everyone, from novice game masters to Grognardian disciples of Cthulhu.”
Adventure Scents
So I haven’t decided how I feel about these, though Aser is opposed. I think it would be a lot of fun for campaigns to be able to close your eyes and imagine you’re sitting around a campfire, and the room actually smells like a campfire. Though you won’t find me using the Fishing Docks scented ones.
“These products are meant to be special effects, designed to heighten the immersion of things like roleplaying and video games, books, TV, and movies. You can also use them enhance a costume – adding a whiff of realism to your favorite persona. And don’t get me started on all of the possibilities for these products around Halloween!”
The Miskatonic: A Lovecraftian Horror Comedy
This game looks super cute and like a lot of fun. I’m 100% pro-enormously huge shotguns.
“Plunge headlong into the writhing depths of The Miskatonic, a side-scrolling, horror comedy visual novel, packed with bizarre and hilarious dialogue, a cadre of warped and damaged students and faculty, and an intriguing, devious narrative! Chat jovially with the local abominations, scout revolting locations for occult expeditions, and investigate the innate strangeness within!”
Pinblock: Revolutionary Piece of Engineering
They claim these don’t hurt to step on, so I think that already puts them ahead of Legos. But more seriously, this design looks like it gives you a lot of flexibility to build what you want to build using one style of block instead of hundreds.
“We’re two best friends who had a single childhood passion – building epic things. We loved the idea but the tools with which we had to work had limitations.
When we grew up, even though severed by time, Shijun came up with an idea to not just reconnect and rebuild one of our old childhood constructions but to create blocks of our own that would be simple enough to overcome common limitations and complex enough to be able to build anything we wanted.”
Three Monkeys pt. 1: Into the Abyss
Aser and I are always on the look out for games that are accessible for him to play, and this looks like an amazing audio game. The plot sounds awesome and they are putting a lot of work into making the audio the highest quality they can
“Three Monkeys takes advantage of Binaural Audio techniques to immerse you in a highly reactive 3D world – meaning you’ll need a pair of headphones to really get the most out of the game. The mechanics combine timing-based responses, relying heavily on human reactions. For example, if you hear a sword swinging towards you, you have a number of choices about how you choose to respond. The game provides the player with the ability to react in the way they desire.
Exploration is handled in the form of a zonal open-world format. This allows the player to get the maximum thrill from exploring the world of Byzantia, whilst enhancing the quest in the story. There will be a range of environments, including villages, forests, mines/caves, abandoned cities – the acoustics in each zones can be utilised to provide a rich gameplay experience. Unity will be used to develop the game alongside WWise Audio Software and Astound Audio Plugins to achieve the best audio response and flexibility.”
Still active!
Numenera: The Strand
Death Saves: Fallen Heroes of the Kitchen Table
Mt. Hood: The Oregon Pint Glass
World of Darkness: Dark Eras Prestige Edition
Ako Dice – Now available in multiple colors and as Fudge Die!
Pencil Dice – Now available in multiple colors and as Fudge Die!
Unspeakable Words
Rise of Cthulhu: A Card Game of Influence and Horror
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Exploding Kittens
–Megan
