Kaidan campaign setting Kickstarter (Japanese Horror) has launched.


Product Discussion

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tempting

Scarab Sages

Azure_Zero wrote:
tempting

Come on, you know you want to. :D

And a link to the kickstarter page for the new thread page.


Any bonuses if you pass certain marks?

Scarab Sages

Azure_Zero wrote:
Any bonuses if you pass certain marks?

I am waiting on Steve to update the project before commenting on specifics. I have sent him some suggestions but he has the final say.


I'm honestly interested, but August will be a bad fiscal month for me. School funding won't occur until the end of the month (provided I get some Federal Grant and Loan issues addressed), so I'll likely bite during the first half of September.


Urizen, we'll wait for you.

Thank you all, just peeked at the KS page before going to bed, and we're at 92% to goal - woot! I am even more hopeful of reaching some of the higher tier goals.


Wicht wrote:

We keep climbing, slowly but surely. :)

There should, if things go as expected, be some updates today. I'll wait until then to say more.

You tease! Where are these updates of which you speak? =P


Steve is immensely busy, but I've sent an Email checking on the update's status - still waiting, hopefully soon!

Steve did say, he'd add more tiers for access to hardcovers, but only after reaching our base funding at $4000

Edit: I just got a response - Steve is trying to get Pathways completed and released - after that is done, the Kickstarter page will be updated. Priorities... besides there's a Kaidan Kickstarter ad in this upcoming issue.

Scarab Sages

Aleron wrote:
Wicht wrote:

We keep climbing, slowly but surely. :)

There should, if things go as expected, be some updates today. I'll wait until then to say more.

You tease! Where are these updates of which you speak? =P

Sorry about the tease. I have been waiting for them myself since that post. I was expecting the update to be made on the 1st. But as Michael says, Steve's a busy man about this time every month and he's the one has to make any changes or updates to the page.

Also... 92%!

So close...


Wicht wrote:
Aleron wrote:
Wicht wrote:

We keep climbing, slowly but surely. :)

There should, if things go as expected, be some updates today. I'll wait until then to say more.

You tease! Where are these updates of which you speak? =P

Sorry about the tease. I have been waiting for them myself since that post. I was expecting the update to be made on the 1st. But as Michael says, Steve's a busy man about this time every month and he's the one has to make any changes or updates to the page.

Also... 92%!

So close...

The update will come on monday, this is my fault, with the release of 101 Featured Alternate Racial Traits, Pathways #17 (for which I both wrote and did layout for), along with having to move some furniture from a rental property after the death of a tenant, it ends up being nearly 5 pm on a friday, and I would rather have the whole week of the news cycle. I expect we might hit goal by monday (I am hopeful, and it will make a nice bonus). My weekend will be spent writing Questhaven.


Rite Publishing wrote:
I expect we might hit goal by monday (I am hopeful, and it will make a nice bonus).

Woot, just crossed the goal line!

Thank you, pledgers! Now we need to fund the larger volume and the Player's Guide. We have to try.

Dreamscarred Press

Congratulations!


next goal: 40000 !


Happy dance of joy, Next goal is $7,000 so we just need to raise $3.000.00 with 41 days to go, another anouncement tomorrow.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32

Congrats!


Would love to see some races reworked, as example the Kitsune to be more like a spirit fox of Japanese tales and legends than it is now, or the ability to play as some minor gods (like a god of river, a forest, a village, etc) of which there are hundreds in a region :)


Awesome and congrats!!!

Have to second Joriandrake's ideas and add that I'm looking forward to the update (hopefully today)!


Hell yeah! Now on to the next benchmark goals!

Scarab Sages

This is a nice thing to wake up to. :)

Thanks everyone for helping us get this far! Now lets aim for the next goal and a book chock-full full of Michael's maps!


joriandrake wrote:
Would love to see some races reworked, as example the Kitsune to be more like a spirit fox of Japanese tales and legends than it is now, or the ability to play as some minor gods (like a god of river, a forest, a village, etc) of which there are hundreds in a region :)

I had a player in a game want to play a Kitsune, but disliked the Paizo version. So we used this one to great effect. He found it to be a lot more faithful to the legends and really enjoyed it.


Oh, and wahoo!


Update and some new incentives!Check it out HERE!

There is a long post by Jonathan McAnulty.


Cheapy wrote:
I had a player in a game want to play a Kitsune, but disliked the Paizo version. So we used this one to great effect. He found it to be a lot more faithful to the legends and really enjoyed it.

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing that, buying and taking a look now.

"Rite Publishing wrote:

Update and some new incentives!Check it out HERE!

There is a long post by Jonathan McAnulty.

Ahah awesome! Was looking forward to this! Two questions...

1) At the $200 level do you still get the signed black and white softcover (with the option of also buying the hardcover)?
2) Can we get the hardcover signed or would that perhaps be another level itself? ;)

I'm a sucker for this setting and all the work that has been done thus far, so I'll likely up my pledge either way. All the same, curious about those and glad that overtime I've been stockpiling can be put to a good use!

Scarab Sages

As I read it, you'll get the softcover with the option of buying the hardcover at a discount.

As for the second, I'll let Steve answer before weighing in.


1) At the $200 level do you still get the signed black and white softcover (with the option of also buying the hardcover)?
Yes.

2) Can we get the hardcover signed or would that perhaps be another level itself? ;)

yeah that's the $1000.00 level.


My bad! Totally overlooked that at the $1000 level.

Anyway, upped my pledge and crossing my fingers that we make it to the Player's Guide!

Scarab Sages

Those who read the latest update know that we are offering our $40+ contributors free Kaidan adventure scenarios, featuring adventures I have written for convention use.

I thought I might say a word or two about these to maybe entice some to up their pledge. :)

The first free adventure, the one we are, for certain going to give to our $40+ contributors, is entitled, "Up from Darkness," and begins with the line, "You awaken in darkness..." It is somewhat a homage to A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, but is also fully its own scenario.

"Up from Darkness," is a solid one-shot adventure which will take 4-8 hours to complete. It features some fun, non-standard PC mechanics to simulate and showcase what I think is one of the truly unique aspects of the Kaidan experience. It is, in my opinion, the best one-shot I have written to date, and those that played through it all enjoyed it immensely. Some of the quotes from those that completed the scenario include, "That's just disturbing!" (my wife said this after playtesting), "But I don't want to be evil any more!," "Ow, My Brain! My Brain! It hurts!" and "Well worth the price of admission!" One of the funnest parts of the scenario is that it allows the GM, guilt free, to savagely and repeatedly kill the PCs. And that's all I'm going to say about that... :D

If we reach the $7000 mark, the scenario we release is entitled, "The Tolling of Tears," and is a mystery adventure featuring ghosts, ghouls, and a cursed temple-bell.


Those sound awesome! Excited about and definitely hope to see them!


The good news? I found someone the preview text convinced to pledge 15 $. The better news? I upped my pledge to 45 $ to get the adventure and the other Kaidan products.

The bad news? 7388 $ left until the Player's Guide gets made. :(


Navarion wrote:
The bad news? 7388 $ left until the Player's Guide gets made. :(

We'll be running a banner ad campaign during the last 30 days of the Kickstarter, through Gamerati, so we should be able to get a lot more eyes looking at the project, and hopefully improve our chances at getting to that Player's Guide. Don't lose hope yet - I haven't! :)

And thanks for your recruiting efforts! I surely appreciate it.

Scarab Sages

Navarion wrote:
The good news? I found someone the preview text convinced to pledge 15 $. The better news? I upped my pledge to 45 $ to get the adventure and the other Kaidan products.

Thanks for the good work. And thanks for upping the pledge. :)


doted - I hope we'll manage to get the player's guide...


Great timing that google happened to tip me off on this one, as I have been off the boards a lot the last several months. Very interested and glad I have 32 days to scrape up some spare dough for this kickstarter!

Perhaps Rite Pub. or someone else in the know might be kind enough to chime in and comment on how accessible the thematic content is going to be? I'm talking about the feel, the culture, the people and their customs...everything that imparts and breathes life into the setting. I have only a pretty cursory and largely pop culture driven feel for Asian folklore and culture of the Japanese feudal period, but feel that, when horror and fantasy collide, having that picture somewhat fleshed out in your head certainly helps.

Anyway, very psyched! Best wishes on many more kickstart pledges =D

Scarab Sages

Doug - my goal is to make it as easy as possible for you, the GM, to convey a real sense of the culture, the land, and the atmosphere of the setting by providing a thorough overview of the history, culture(s), religions, flora, fauna, and metaphysics of the land. I suspect the GM tome is going to be lighter on rules and heavier on helping to flesh out what makes the setting tick (though there will certainly be some mechanical stuff in it).


Doug, if you haven't experienced our introductory mini-campaign module trilogy, the Curse of the Golden Spear released last year, by itself has proven that Kaidan indeed has a very Japanese 'feel' or at least something other than typical. While all 3 modules evoke this feeling, read the reviews on the first module - The Gift. It is oft described as a kind of setting you've never been to before. It definitely feels exotic.

I think part of this feel comes from instances that a 'duel' situation arises fairly often. That is instead of fight between you and us, it is an individual challenge between two combatants to answer issues of honor. The social castes are apparent and the division of society can be seen everywhere you go. The culture of Kaidan is very apparent.

We intend to give you the tools to evoke this feeling in your game, in the upcoming GM's Guide to Kaidan.


The link didn't work, here it is again, Curse of the Golden Spear.


Wicht, Game-Printer: thank you both for your replies! You've definitely got me thinking that this'll be a fun ride and deliver some excellent material. Hmmm, maybe I'll even get to use it for more than wistful reading and actually get a campaign going again.

I'm in and you guys just popped over the $5,000 mark. Again, best of luck--I'm pulling for that 7K goal!


Thanks Doug O! I'm pulling for more than just the $7000 tier!

Dark Archive

Received payment for a freelance gig so I'm in for $65.

Scarab Sages

Ravenmantle wrote:
Received payment for a freelance gig so I'm in for $65.

Thank you kindly and welcome aboard!


The banner ad campaign will begin on Monday, when Steve gets back from Gencon.


We're at 72% to our Tier 2 goal, or 43% to our Tier 3 goal - hopefully the ad campaign will get us there faster.

Really just a bump of the thread - I hope we make our goals.


Hellooooooooo? Anybody still alive in here? It seems the pledged amount is slowly going backwards.


I'm still hoping we'll see more influx of backers - I want this damn player's guide! @Navarion: I think one backer backed out - no need to worry!


Steve passed on an Email from a 'would be backer', asking for an answer to this...

I'm really not a big fan of D&D and Pathfinder, and I'm really worried that a ruleset that fosters minmaxing and features a huge power difference between low and high levels might not be a good fit for an horror game, which supposedly is all about roleplay and atmosphere. If a low level monster (a good match for a low level character) becomes a laughable nuisance to the same character at high level, it destroys a lot of the horror feel to me. How was this addressed in your campaign setting? Or do we have a different definition of "horror"? (When I see horror campaign setting, I'm thinking something more along the lines of Cthulhu).

This is a paraphrase of my response, which I thought worth posting here, so I might answer any similar question that others might have...

Morelike Ravenloft than any other setting, Kaidan is a spiritual trap. You can arrive into the setting via ship at sea and no other means,but if you die in the setting, your spirit can never leave, but be forever bound to an endless, cursed reincarnation cycle. Thus fear of PC death becomes very real.

In exploring the concept of Buddhism, there is the Great Wheel of Life, 6 Buddhist hells where those who've failed to achieve enlightenment are doomed to travel. In Kaidan, this is the cursed reincarnation cycle which houses the 4 social castes, the yokai caste and Jigoku(the true hell). There is no resurrection mechanics, only a cursed form of reincarnation, based on acquired karma points and appointed location in the Wheel of Life at PC death, via d20 + current karma score + any modifiers, if available. Each social caste fits within a specific karma point range.

When PC death occurs, his spirit travels to Yomi, the land of the dead, where it awaits to find within a specific distance range, a suitable vessel to contain it, determined by your reincarnation roll. The vessel must be a living being with appropriate class and level, thatyour spirit attempts to possess. On a successful possession attempt, the spirit of the previous owner is pushed out, essentially killing the character, and you awaken within the body, perhaps gaining some memories (levels) of it's previous inhabitant. At any level, a PC is subject to a spiritual possession attack serving as someone else's reincarnation attempt on you.

Divine magic is somewhat mitigated. Some spells have no effect at all, such as extra-planar travel and resurrection mechanics. Channel Energy is lessened by 1 point per hit die. Going ethereal risks becoming trapped in the land of the dead and becoming a ghost. Contact with deities outside of Kaidan is impossible. All divine magic is rerouted and tainted through Kaidan's spiritual engine, the Wheel of Life.

The mundane part of Kaidan can best be defined as a military dictatorship and police state, under an undead Shogun, in the name of an eternal child emperor (also undead). Founded on a divine curse uttered centuries ago upon the suicide of entire imperial house, all the nobility, provincial daimyo, ministers of the imperial court and the senior members of the office of the Shogunate, including the Shogun himself, are undead. They are eternally bound to the “heaven”noble caste, and none may enter upon reincarnation. They exist tomaintain the status quo, as required by the ancient curse, and notmad necromancers of the normal sort.

An organization under the shogunate, called the Metsuki serves as asecret police rigorously watching everyone else in search of treasons and heresy. Any such suspicion leads to a company of the shogun'sarmy and an inquisition of the darkest kind. Meanwhile the land isfilled with treasons and heresies, under a plethora of organizationswith private agendas. Even finding the path to enlightenment isconsidered heresy. Reincarnation on the Wheel of Life is the expectedspiritual path for all in Kaidan. Any effort to escape spirituallyfrom the doomed reincarnation cycle is considered illegal to thestate, and risks torture and damnation by the Metsuki.

Except for the Yokai 'caste', the four traditional social castes of Japan are firmly set in Kaidan, and unlike Japan impermeable. Social caste is determined by birth/reincarnation. One cannot move from one social class to another, short of adoption which has no effect on reincarnation rolls. Social caste rules are 'cosmic'. Samurai undergo tight restrictions within a larger community of commoners and Hinin caste members, all under a police state.

Undead,ghosts and haunts are prevalent in Kaidan, perhaps more so than any other supernatural encounter. No matter the CR, each is an individual with a thorough background and agenda that become clues and plothooks, more than simple encounters. Haunts and ghosts are always connected, sometimes with an associated curse, and often no easymeans of laying to rest. Laying a ghost or haunt to rest becomestypical in the setting, as the ramifications for not doing so can bedire. This makes undead CR neutral.

Regarding CR, any monster in Kaidan, like many of Rite Publishing's monster releases come in multiple CR's. While the skinchanger goblin is a CR2 base monster, you could still run into one that's fully a challenge to you at 20th level. This applies to most Kaidan entries of the Kaidan Bestiary – if we can produce that with this Kickstarter.

While I will not claim the Kaidan was not designed for Pathfinder/D&D style play, it is emphatic that the experience is unique from more traditional settings within the same ruleset. This dark exotic, with many ideas from Japanese fiction, is a type of horror experience, not gothic but Asian in nature.

Whether that's enough to make your Kadian experience fit your horror premise or not, I cannot say, but this is how we are attempting to do so.


Looks like our banner ad campaign will begin on the 1st of September - hopefully more pledges will come at that time.


Okay, first of all I just told my friend about your description of Kaidan's horrible horror features and he complained bitterly (I'm exaggerating a bit) that it's not a Kickstarter Update, since he's not on the Paizo message boards.

On the 1st of September there will be just 16 days left. I really hope it takes off then.


Navarion wrote:

Okay, first of all I just told my friend about your description of Kaidan's horrible horror features and he complained bitterly (I'm exaggerating a bit) that it's not a Kickstarter Update, since he's not on the Paizo message boards.

On the 1st of September there will be just 16 days left. I really hope it takes off then.

Then I'll repost it in the comments portion of the Kickstarter page, later today.

I'm hopeful as well.


Navarion wrote:

Okay, first of all I just told my friend about your description of Kaidan's horrible horror features and he complained bitterly (I'm exaggerating a bit) that it's not a Kickstarter Update, since he's not on the Paizo message boards.

On the 1st of September there will be just 16 days left. I really hope it takes off then.

This happens a lot towards the end of the month where backers find themselves short of $, they drop or they lower their pledge, this is why I try to start and end in the the middle of the month.

The banner adds actually start on the 30th.

There are two times backing spikes

1. is the week you start,

2 is the week you end.

I will post this in the backers update.


Wes Schneider, Editor in Chief of Paizo has just become a Kaidan backer and has officially endorsed the project on my Facebook page!!! Glad to have you aboard, Wes!

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