This week’s TTRPG crowdfunding sampler covers projects that end between March 6 to 12. There’s a lot of OSR content as part of ZineQuest and beyond and, in this piece, we look at Old-School Essentials adventures and Shadowdark zines as well as Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition sourcebooks and RPG zines.
Gods of the Forbidden North Trilogy from Pulp Hummock Press
The Lady Pirates Tarot & Sails of Fate 5e Supplement from Baroque Publishing
A Perfect Rock from Deep Dark Games
Craft & Conquer from Jerry Joe Seltzer
Crafting Heritages, Cultures and More: Worldbuilding from PJ Coffey - Homebrew and Hacking TTRPG Design
Gods of the Forbidden North Trilogy from Pulp Hummock Press
- END DATE: Thu, March 6 2025 5:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Old-School Essentials
- PROJECT TYPE: Multi-volume campaign
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $69 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book, slipcase, and additional PDFs
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Do you need a 3-volume, 1,400 page adventure set in the arctic? Designed for Old-School Essentials characters from 1st level to 14th, this Kickstarter provides the final volume for this ENNIE Award-winning campaign. You get a wilderness hex-crawl, an underworld with dozens of tunnels leading to the surface, 11 dungeons, and a megadungeon titled Castle Thar-Gannon. Despite taking place in the arctic, this isn’t a world inspired by Vikings. Instead, you’ll get a world of magical cultures inspired by the Romans and the Inuit peoples with cities, towns, and over 300 monsters. There’s a lot more content here than I’m listing. If you want an OSE campaign, check out the Kickstarter page for a sample dungeon to see if this is for your gaming table.
The Lady Pirates Tarot & Sails of Fate 5e Supplement from Baroque Publishing
- END DATE: Thu, March 6 2025 10:00 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: RPG accessory
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $45 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the deck and more
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This campaign offers a 300-page supplement with Tarots rules for naval campaigns, ships, weather, and encounters with adventures that range from levels 1 to 20. Using their 78-card Tarot deck, you’ll create nautical adventures with new monsters, a ghost fleet, and new subclasses. What makes this a standout is the combination of water-based adventures, 5e, and Tarot. If you’re a fan of pirates, this campaign may be for you.
A Perfect Rock from Deep Dark Games
- END DATE: Thu, March 6 2025 4:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: CA$95 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the books, deck, map, and patches
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Your homeworld is gone, time to find a new one. This GM-less worldbuilding TTRPG lets you design both your original planet and your new world. Using rocks as inspiration, you’ll travel to a new world while remembering your old one. If you like building settings collaboratively, the campaign includes a link to the one-page view of the rules.
Craft & Conquer from Jerry Joe Seltzer
- END DATE: Sat, March 8 2025 6:30 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $11 for the PDF version of the book
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Want to add more crafting to your 5e games? Want spells and feats to help you craft better? If you play to create things then this sourcebook will arm you with the literal tools artisans require. This book gets into the mundane items of the world letting your gamer delve deep into building new items. Want to stock a store? This book has everything you’ll need. If you’re playing a monster harvesting RPG, this book adds the mechanical side to your work in case you want to get into every aspect of crafting.
Crafting Heritages, Cultures and More: Worldbuilding from PJ Coffey - Homebrew and Hacking TTRPG Design
- END DATE: Mar 3, 2025 at 3:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Advanced Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £35 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
- DISCLAIMER: PJ Coffey co-hosts Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This 120-page book offers rules to create character traits, NPCs, and full cultures designed for both versions of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Advanced Fifth Edition. The book includes a chapter each on how to make original heritages, cultures, backgrounds, and feats plus chapters with premade versions of each. If you’re a fan of original content, bespoke content, this Backerkit campaign offers you rules to make your own so there’s balance and flavor.
RPG Zine Month Selections
February is RPG Zine Month. The promotion encourages crowdfunding RPG zines, 5.5” by 8.5” booklets full of core rules, source material, and tabletop adventures. If you want to know what’s available, here are the major lists: Kickstarter’s ZineQuest and Backerkit’s ZineMonth. Among these great offerings, I want to spotlight a few of the original zines that you can support.- Lost Phantosmia from KeganExe and Tony Vasinda of Plus One Exp ends on February 21. This is an old-school, system neutral dungeon with a twist, it’s all about the smells. Set in a haunted perfume factory, you’ll face multiple aromatic adversaries including a perfumed lich. At certain backer levels, you can get the 48-page zine as well as perfumes to get the full nasal experience.
- Fantasy RPG Zine Double Feature - Delver 17 and Runes 6 from The Tabletop Engineer ends on February 28. Two zines, two different offerings. The Delver series offers Old-School Essentials content with a focus on random tables, an adventure, and articles focusing on old-school gameplay. Runes has the same type of content, but not the same tables or articles, it’s all original and written for Shadowdark RPG.
- A PERFECT WIFE: TTRPG Adventure + Fundraiser! from Copy/Paste Co-op ends tomorrow on February 20. This 24-page, system neutral adventure zine pits you against a pontianak, a female spirit based on Malaysian/Indonesian folklore. The artwork, concept, and title show some of the best options in RPG zines. To learn more about this zine, read Charles Dunwoody’s interview with the creators here.
- Streetlights & Shadows and The Maltese Falcon Adventure from Tabletops and Tentacles ends on February 27. This full TTRPG in a zine lets you play a private investigator in a 1930s/40s/50s noir setting. Hardboiled and inspired by the stories of those eras, this game gives you everything you’ll need to right the wrongs and make rent.
- The Devil's Doorbell from Bug Boll ends on February 28. This is an RPG about promoting the prince of liars in hilarious ways to vulnerable souls. You go door-to-door preaching the dark word of the capital “D” Devil, recruiting wayward souls with promises of everything save for salvation. Bug Boll’s Sentai & Sensibility is a standout RPG combining Power Rangers and Jane Austin, and that makes me interested in what Bug brings to the Devil (Sorry, couldn't help it!). If you want to ring The Devil’s Doorbell, you’ll get your heart’s desire… provided you meet your quota for recruits.
