I'd tell you about the new Open Design Patron Project: Midgard Tales for Pathfinder, but it looks like you probably already know! We're barely 36 hours into the campaign, and almost at 85% funded. Wait, you didn't know? Well, the good news is that you've got plenty of time to sign up. The better news? Keep reading...
Midgard Tales will contain 13 new adventures for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, with new takes on classic RPG themes. This book will define the Midgard campaign setting the way legendary adventures such as Dragonlance did back in the day.
Patrons will join lead designer Christina Stiles, assisted by Ben McFarland and Wolfgang Baur, to pitch and design 13 adventures for Pathfinder that will remake classic themes. Already they’re hearing from various designers who want in, with tales such as:
• A dragon adventure set in the Northlands
• A visit to the Master of Demon Mountain
• A celestial adventure on the Sky Stairs of Beldestan,
• A nocturnal tribe of long-hidden orcs and their evil goddess,
• The unchaining of the imprisoned god of the Sea
Adventures to be remembered, adventures that won’t be "just another dungeon" -- Midgard Tales aims to encourage the best of new and existing adventure design talent, to give you adventures from levels 1 to 12 that your players never forget.
Sold.
Sold.
And for comparison, we started _Journeys Into the West_ in mid-late December 2011. We opened up playtest to all patrons about 2 weeks ago, and we'll close it in a week, then do modifications based on reports and I'll be handing over the developed manuscript to our editor in about 2 weeks.
Then we'll finish out our bonus stretch material in the "quiet period" (while editing is going on) with a few more chances for patrons to contribute and comment. One patron actually won a pitch to create an adventure we'll be running at Paizocon.
You learn how a lot about design on patron projects, about pitching, about working with wordcount. Jim Groves (RPG Superstar top 4, 2010) has been a part of Open Design since Nick Logue's _Blood of the Gorgon._ I know Mike Welham (2012 RPG Superstar) has been a part of Open Design since 2007's _Empire of the Ghouls_-- and I'm not near my treeware for _Steam and Brass_ or _Castle Shadowcrag_, so it could be longer. These guys aren't endorsing this project, and I'm not speaking for them, but Open Design has been nominated for and won Ennies and won the Diana Jones Award in 2008. Open Design helps patrons create projects they want, with aspects they help imagine in a community that fosters communication and learning. Getting in on a project is more than a PDF link in your inbox, it's an experience.
Come have one. :D
-Ben.
I jumped straight there and went for the Legends option :) Couldn't help myself, and my wife thinks I'm crazy, but as you say Ben, what an experience! If I lived in the States I would have gone the Vizier option, but if I did that I'd find myself having to shell out for airfares from Australia to the US just to play an adventure - which would have been awesome, but just too rich for my blood :)
The most exciting thing for me (assuming that none of my pitches get accepted, which I have no illusions about) will be just having my name in the book! And you can get that for $10! Although the one in a million chance of having something published is pretty sweet too... Everybody wins!
Very. Excited.
The more of us from the Great Southern Land the better littlehewy!
I found/am finding Journeys to the West a great experience and a lot of fun. Looking back at the pitches and brainstorms makes me realise just how much collaborative effort goes into a project like this. The feedback and review on pitches, both from lead designers and from patrons is priceless. One pitch I saw tweaked and changed three times with feedback by the time it was voted in. All in all a worthwhile crash-course in RPG design![EDIT - and if you become a patron at Legend or higher you can pitch to lead the next project!]
(@littlehewy: my wife is non-RPG conversant. As long as I maintain a balance between treading the boards and weaving the threads she's happy for me to enjoy this creative aspect of my life. I'm not sure I always manage that! ;p. And, for what its worth, the chances of getting a pitch accepted are way better than one in a million! Go littlehewy!)
Not only that, but check out what's made it as one of the Staff Picks at Kickstarter.
-Ben.
Nearly full funding in two days will do that. It's a virtual surefire success. Congrats, looks like this one took off and will be another memorable project.
What WILL you all do in the full month and change until the final funding deadline? ;)
Nearly full funding in two days will do that. It's a virtual surefire success. Congrats, looks like this one took off and will be another memorable project.
What WILL you all do in the full month and change until the final funding deadline? ;)
Well, we *have* to get Journeys to bed. There's a good month to five weeks left on that project. This one's going to be a waiting eagerly in the wings. Maybe will look at a quick virtual tour of Midgard in the forums, to get people familiar with the nations and adventure potential.
-Ben.
Not only that, but check out what's made it as one of the Staff Picks at Kickstarter.
-Ben.
Wow, I hadn't seen that. That's very cool!
What WILL you all do in the full month and change until the final funding deadline? ;)
Rest assured that we won't be resting on our laurels. As Ben said, we've got to get Journeys wrapped up, and we'll have some Legends Blogs going. I'll get a discussion of the "Freeing Nethus" adventure up.
We have plenty of things to do!
Christina has done amazing work for Pathfinder lately.
Thanks, Overlord! Moderator, could I get that particular comment box highlighted and flashing? ;-)
Do kickstarter have a prohibition against supporting projects via direct contributions?
(ie Can you sign up as a patron without going through the kickstarter site or is that against the terms and conditions?)
Good to hear about the discussion we're going to get in the upcoming weeks.
@Steve Geddes: I've seen this done with other projects on Kickstarter (including big ones like the Double Fine Adventure), it's something you can contact Wolfgang about and I'm sure he will work something out with you. He's been organizing patron projects since before Kickstarter ... was (kick)started.
Yeah - I've been a patron before. I just dont like paying a commission to some faceless company. Presumably it's easier for open design this way, rather than managing it all themselves. It just irks me, but I could easily imagine them banning "off market" contributions.. :/
34 days to go and you already flipped over 100% of your goal. Nice work!
Maybe will look at a quick virtual tour of Midgard in the forums, to get people familiar with the nations and adventure potential.
I'd like to see this! Would definitely help mesh adventures with existing Midgard canon.
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Maybe we should Kickstart a semi-private Midgard Wiki next? All the information that's available in released books, but access to archived board conversations and ideas with membership. A resource for current games and future projects. Not to get ahead of ourselves or anything...
Welcome aboard, Littlehewy, and don't count yourself out on pitching an adventure for it. Some past Open Design writers are now Paizo writers.
But yeah, I'm excited about this one in particular. Christina has done amazing work for Pathfinder lately.
This may be far too premature, but is the idea that the series of adventures are linked by some kind of overarching story arc, or are they supposed to exist independently of each other? Or does this kind of discussion need to wait till you have the patron forums up and running?
I also can't wait to see more canonical material via a 'tour' of Midgard.
This may be far too premature, but is the idea that the series of adventures are linked by some kind of overarching story arc, or are they supposed to exist independently of each other? Or does this kind of discussion need to wait till you have the patron forums up and running?
I also can't wait to see more canonical material via a 'tour' of Midgard.
These are not going to be connected adventures. One day I'll pitch an adventure path for Midgard! :)
If you are interested, the Journeys project [which you can still sign up for with all the special add-ons through the KQ store] will have a collection of material that we'll suggest a linkage on. Those can be used as jaunts with the new Paizo AP.
These are not going to be connected adventures. One day I'll pitch an adventure path for Midgard! :)
Ah good! That would have been a logistical nightmare I suppose, but for some reason when I read a reference to the iconic nature of the original Dragonlance adventures in the blurb above I got it in my head that they may be connected.
Kobold Press
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An adventure path for Midgard would be awesome, but it would also be 600 pages and likely have a minimum funding goal of at least $40,000.
It's good to have dreams. Maybe in 2014?
@Zootcat, no, the limited edition hardcover is a limited edition for Kickstarter supporters. Softcover will be available to the public.
An adventure path for Midgard would be awesome, but it would also be 600 pages and likely have a minimum funding goal of at least $40,000.
It's good to have dreams. Maybe in 2014?
@Zootcat, no, the limited edition hardcover is a limited edition for Kickstarter supporters. Softcover will be available to the public.
I'm betting we could make that goal sooner than that, maybe as the big 2013 project. I'd easily put double or triple my current backing for a Midgard AP.
I'm betting we could make that goal sooner than that, maybe as the big 2013 project. I'd easily put double or triple my current backing for a Midgard AP.An adventure path for Midgard would be awesome, but it would also be 600 pages and likely have a minimum funding goal of at least $40,000.
It's good to have dreams. Maybe in 2014?
Hey, you know me, I'd be up for pitching it. But not next round. I've already got something cool lined up with the Overlord.
Hey, you know me, I'd be up for pitching it. But not next round. I've already got something cool lined up with the Overlord.
Upon reading that I realized Christina's alignment is soul-breaking, madness-inducing Neutral Evil.
Upon reading that I realized Christina's alignment is soul-breaking, madness-inducing Neutral Evil.
Hey, you know me, I'd be up for pitching it. But not next round. I've already got something cool lined up with the Overlord.
Well, don't tell everyone. ;-)
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Kobold Press
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Adventures Paths are amazingly cool, but I would think twice and three times before doing one at Open Design. They are much, much larger than anything else except a set of RPG core rules. At ~600 pages, they would require big funding and years of work.
And not to put too fine a point on it, Paizo does them better than anyone.
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Kobold Press
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The Midgard Tales project is about to get cooler, with a complete set of full-scale battle maps for every adventure in the book if the project reaches the next stretch goal.
Help a gamer out--back Midgard Tales--because it's good to have maps!
The Midgard Tales project is about to get cooler, with a complete set of full-scale battle maps for every adventure in the book if the project reaches the next stretch goal.
Help a gamer out--back Midgard Tales--because it's good to have maps!
We are just under $900 towards that goal, please share about the project where you can. All help is much appreciated.
I pledged for Hero I think. That's good enough for me. :)
Thank you! :) We are getting very close to the map-opening tier!
Also pledged & working on a NPC idea.
Great to hear! Welcome, Jeff.
We made 10k! Battlemaps! Next stop 12.5 k and we get Legends of Midgard! (i'd really like to see 20k and Wolfgang's Raven's Call adventure). C'mon folks, come and be part of the Tales of Midgard.
We are inching toward that Legends of Midgard supplement. I just wanted to remind everyone that the hardcover edition of this book is limited to those who sign up at the appropriate kickstarter tier. LIMITED EDITION.
Yesss! 12.5k funding has been reached... 32 page Legends book added. With the two PDF adventures added for Hero patron tier or higher, this project is looking pretty sweet!
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And we might see even more content! Here's to hoping we'll put the overlord to work... :D
Oh, I SO WANT to put the Overlord to work. :)
We have our first legend up on the Kobold Quarterly blog. Stop by to learn about Brian Suskind's Hune the Doorlord. We have reached the funding tier to add the Legends book to the project, and the Doorlord will be one of such entries.
Be on the lookout from legends from Ben McFarland, Rich Green, myself, Matt Blackie, and Henry Wong (aka Isuru). We've got a few goodies lined up for you.
Next tier for the Midgard Tales Kickstarter is more pages of adventure goodness at $15,000! Please help us reach our goal. Note that Hero-level patrons get access to two never-before-published Open Design adventures from Mike Franke and myself, so you get 2 more on top of the 13 promised in the project! You can't beat that with a stick!
Just signed on as a backer.
So yeah, just found this and backed it immediately, lured to the project by two diabolically sweet words: Nick Logue. Looking forward to this one!
Those are rather sweet words. :) Thanks for joining us!
We're a bit over $1000 short of the next stretch goal - 32 extra pages of Midgard adventure goodness. This is shaoing up to be an exciting project with the inclusion of Nick Logue and Richard Pett! Come on and join in the adventure!
