There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
You
We love Greg Stolze’s work and were excited to jump on this new project from him, a book written from a very weird perspective. I expect things to be weird and can’t wait to read it! If you’re on the fence, you can read the first 28 pages of the novel on Greg Stolze’s website.
“YOU is a second person novel, so it’s told as if it’s happening to the reader. These aren’t common. The most popular second person literature is probably the Choose Your Own Adventure genre, only in YOU there are no choices. It could be described as an “endure your own adventure” story.
In the book, you are Leo Evans. Leo is disgruntled, middle-aged, unhappily divorced, and a cultist who has developed genuine extra senses and paranormal abilities by adhering to a set of beliefs he freely admits seem preposterous.”
Rise of the Elders
Rise of the Elders is a tactical RPG for PC and mobile play. You control several different investigators at once, who have occupations that fall in the broad categories of Dreamers, Enforcers, and Scholars. This game looks super pulpy and like it could be a lot of fun. Sanity does play a role in the game, and losing too much sanity can cause problems for your investigators, which is a really nice touch I haven’t seen much outside of playing an RPG.
“We want to make this game because we believe there is another angle to Lovecraft’s works. Indeed, if you take Lovecraft’s books one by one then you might see a series of horror tales. But if you look at them as a whole, the global picture becomes way more epic: you will find yourself contemplating an alternative universe with its own mythos and lore, an encyclopedia of bizarre creatures, a pantheon of alien gods, a fragile mankind perpetually on the brink of destruction… And that’s the angle we want to capture. A game in which human life is ephemeral, where madness is lurking at every crossroad, where a strange Mythos is developing in the shadows.”
Cold Shadows
This sort of game is right up our alley. It uses a pooled dice d6 system, heavily influenced by Blood & Honor, which is actually a Samurai game. The game certainly evokes a lot of what I would want in a spy game, including distrust, betrayal and suspicion.
“Cold Shadows is a tabletop roleplaying game built on the ruleset developed in Blood & Honor by John Wick Presents and World of Dew by Woerner Wunderwerks. Cold Shadows is a narrative tabletop role-playing game where the rules are focused on telling a dynamic, personal and compelling story. The game is set in a taut world of espionage, betrayal, and drama inspired by the great spy stories of authors such as John le Carre and Robert Ludlum.
Cold Shadows is written to evoke the feeling of the Cold War era of spies both in modern and historical context. The game can easily be used to tell espionage stories in any 20th and 21st century time-frame.”
Lord of the Rings Coins
Shire Post Mint makes gorgeous coins, and they’re launching a new set of coins from Middle Earth. The coins are all pretty interesting, and I really like the crescent shaped coin from Rivendell. Lord of the Rings is my original fandom, so getting new things from Middle Earth is always a treat.
“Shire Post Mint is excited to release our newest set of five coins from Middle-earth. Each coin design is engraved by hand. The coins are made from solid metals and are stamped one at a time on antique machinery.”
Still Active
Fear’s Sharp Little Needles
Alas for the Awful Sea
The Wyrmwood Magnetic GM Screen
The Dragon Tray
Numenera Audio Collection
The Key Armory Part II
