Tabletop Games Crowdfunding Roundup - April 27th, 2022

Does your inbox fill up every Tuesday with Kickstarter emails? Well, mine does - so I decided to start writing my thoughts on new tabletop gaming Kickstarters every Wednesday. Keep in mind, most of these are based on initial impressions and looking at the Kickstarter video.

We’ve got a mixed bag of stuff this week: typos, D&D pets, miniatures that looked like they came from Azeroth, and floating cyberpunk cities! Time to dive in!

Can We Keep It? Pets for your D&D 5E Game

No video for this campaign, but I guess when the title of your campaign spells it out so clearly, you don't need one. This is a 30 page book with a bunch of pet resources that was originally printed in EN5ider Magazine. According to the campaign page, this is a "Quickstarter" type of campaign - since the content has already been printed, it's already ready to go once the two week campaign is over. The PDF is just $9, and you get it immediately once the campaign is over. Softcover is $26 and claims to be delivered in May 2022.

Normally I'd scoff at that kind of timing. If you look at the credentials of the creator though, they have done 29 other campaigns. Apparently 14 of them were done last year and were these same type of quick turn-around campaigns. I'm assuming given the timeframe that the company is using one of those "print-on-demand" style of printers. That's the only way I could see them getting out the books this quickly, but then again it isn't a large publication we are talking about. If you want pets in your D&D5e games, you should back this and you could have them in your games by summer.

Rivenstone: A Brand New Tabletop Miniature Skirmish Game

Everything about this game screams World of Warcraft. Even the voiceover in the video sounds similar to the dwarves used in some of Blizzard's cinematics. Through the first 60 seconds of the video where they are giving us the lore of the world, I just kept looking for more WoW homages. I swore I saw some that looked like they had come straight from that game. The artwork, graphic design, even the design of the miniatures and their armor has that WoW-fantasy feel to it.

This is a new miniature skirmish game, where you can buy boxes of different factions and play out different scenarios. The campaign page lays out a couple of the highlights/differences in this game: alternating actions, reinforcements (so you don't just lose all your units quickly and lose the game), and "easy to learn" rules. You'll have to determine for yourself on the easy to learn part. Love the look of this game obviously, as I am a big WoW fan. I'd make sure you have 2-3 people interested in playing/backing with you before getting something like this. I have definitely fallen down the rabbit hole of buying a miniatures game only to be unable to find anyone interested in playing it.

Wayfarers of the South Tigris

As "mainstream" as Garphill Games and their North Seas/West Kingdoms games have gotten, I'm a little bit surprised that there is not a video with this campaign. Maybe they know their audience and that enough people will back it at face value that they don't need to spend resources on a video. I am reminded of the campaign last week, where once again a bunch of white-passing males have made a game involving a lot of cultural references that they are not apparently a part of. The "good news" is that they have more of a variety of content creators talking about the game. Still no one from the culture depicted in the game talking about its authenticity though, but I can dream.

This Kickstarter will only set you back $43 to purchase (excluding shipping), and there's a tabletop simulator mod if you want to try it out now to decide if this game is for you. If you are familiar with Shem Phillips/"The Mico" and their line of board games, you'll recognize everything about this game. This is a continuation of their earlier series, beginning what I can only assume is a new trilogy of games. When they finish this one and the inevitable "East" trilogy, will there be a giant collector's box for all 12 of the games?

Demonic dice set—The Hollowed Metal PRG Game Dice set

That is not a typo on my part. The title of this campaign has "PRG" in the title instead of "RPG". They even use "PRG" in the first paragraph of the campaign, so it wasn't a one-time goof. I'm not sure how y'all feel, but I have a hard time giving people money who can't even proofread the title of their campaign. Video is just a generic 40 seconds of them showing off all the dice, rolling them around, etc.

I originally picked this campaign not because of the typo, but I thought the designs of the metal dice were pretty neat looking. That was in the tiny thumbnail picture. Once I saw the dice up close and personal, I was pretty horrified. I still like the shape and backgrounds of the dice, but the numbering gives me the same feeling as nails on a chalkboard. These people need some outside graphic design help - everything about the numbering looks wrong - placement, coloring, font, etc. I mean, look at the pictures of the campaign - some of the dice aren't very clear because they are dark dice on dark backgrounds for instance. Me thinks they "played" their "role" too soon on this campaign. A couple of more iterations and this could have been pretty sweet.

Cytress - An Immersive Cyberpunk Game

One new exception to my "30 seconds" rule for Kickstarter videos. If the intro lasts more than 30 seconds, but in that timeframe you switch to using game components to finish your explanation, you get a pass. In this game, it made for a nice transition between the artistic flair of the animation and getting into the "here's the game" video bits.

Cytress is a cyberpunk game that caught my eye based on the beautiful artwork. Also, the 3D tower was a big factor as well. You get the base game for $59 but there are apparently "narrative upgrades" that you can get if you pledge $99. RPG is also thrown around as well, but my initial sweep of the campaign didn't really find much that let me know what those packages included to add more narrative/RPG like elements. Definitely a game I would try at a con just to see what those bits were.

What about you - do you tend to back more narrative and/or thematic board games? Or do you prefer games with more strategy and mechanics to them over theme?

Note: I generally assume I know nothing. So if I've missed something, let me know in the comments. Or let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you like these types of posts, consider subscribing to our patreon.