[Samurai Sheepdog - Kickstarter] Fall of Man Kickstarter is LIVE

[Valen Nemora]

When the world was to end, inexplicably, it did not.

The year is 2061, 30 years since the meteor known as Satan’s Maul slammed into the Atlantic Ocean, causing what scientists predicted should have been an extinction level event.

However, Earth had ties beyond those known to man. When all our technology had failed us and our world was being torn asunder, it was magic which stitched and scabbed the world whole again. Today technology and magic fight a silent war for domination; the One God of Earth battles the many gods of Gothos; the magic world merged with earth to sustain it and humans fight for survival in a world now infested with orcs, dragons, elves and even more nightmarish creations.

Welcome to the Fall of Man.

The Fall of Man Kickstarter is LIVE. From the award winning members of Samurai Sheepdog and featuring the writing talent of Ed Greenwood, Richard Lee Byers, Ken Shannon, Doug Herring and many others, the Fall of Man RPG promises to be a great addition to any gaming shelf. What is it and what do you get?

Fall of Man is a post apocalyptic-gothic-horror-fantasy RPG set on ruined Earth. The Fall of Man Corebook with all the knowledge you need to play right at the beginning for Pathfinder and PDF conversions for 13th Age, Fate and Castles & Crusades (SIEGE).

A Kickstarter Exclusive 32+ page bonus book full of additional "crunch" content for your players.
The Hunt: Rise of Evil original setting and possible PDF bonus books based on the social media campaign.
A large number of stretch goal bonus PDF books from an arms and equipment guide, detailed locales, adventures and even possibly additional setting content from Ed Greenwood.
A Limited Edition book (with glow in the dark cover) with a full color map of the United States post-apocalypse.
The ability to get any of the PDF books printed and shipped right to your door.
Original Art pieces from our Artists.
Even game sessions with the Fall of Man creators.

Stop by and check it out and see all the great gaming goodness you get by becoming a supporter.

Fall of Man Kickstarter Page

[Oceanshieldwolf]

ShGadowrunmma World.

[William Wood]

Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

ShGadowrunmma World.

I was thinking Rifts myself...

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Sure, the cover also evokes a little of Palladium's pre-Rifts TMNT work After the Bomb. But really, with the elf and dwarf doing their usual "elf and dwarf on Earth" thing - Shadowrun.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Update #3 reveals the origins of the Campaign Setting - the Hunt: Rise Of Evil books from the d20 era (over a decade ago) actually looks quite cool and compelling. Sadly I do not feel any desire to back this current incarnation above the $5 to get that associated, original PDF. With Rogue Mage, Gamma World, Steampunk Musha, Rifts, Shadowrun etc all detailing much of the same stuff I don't see anything shiny here to attract me.

C'mon folks, take a look, what do YOU think?

[Lindley Court]

I think it's fantastic, to be honest. I'm mainly enamored with the new classes, and also the concepts of Advanced and Master classes. Plus, the setting honestly sounds pretty cool to me. (But every setting sounds pretty cool to me, usually...)

[Necroblivion]

I (Brian Berg) will be contributing some dark post-apocalyptic love to this setting as well as Clinton Boomer.

[Valen Nemora]

We at Samurai Sheepdog and the Fall of Man team appreciate any and all support for our Kickstarter and for the product itself. We look forward to showing you more about the setting and the system that has us so excited.

Stay tuned Oceanshieldwolf...even you might change your mind. :)

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Magestrike30 wrote:

We at Samurai Sheepdog and the Fall of Man team appreciate any and all support for our Kickstarter and for the product itself. We look forward to showing you more about the setting and the system that has us so excited.

Stay tuned Oceanshieldwolf...even you might change your mind. :)

Mayhap I will. Anyone who knows me knows I hold very strong opinions, right up until the moment I swap them for something equally (though often diametrically opposed) strong.

And I am a backer already for those PDFs...

PROS
*I really like the d20/3.5 Gothos source material

*Christina Stiles is on board

CONS
*Smacks of Shadowrun. Which I could never get into. And RIFTS, which for some reason I didn't mind so much (possibly because I ran an inter-Palladium Campaign - Palladium Fantasy/TMNT/After the Bomb/Heroes Unlimited/Ninjas and Superspies/Beyond the Supernatural well before RIFTS...)

[Brutorz Bill]

I'm definitely interested in this. I'm looking forward to learning more about it. For instance, will Pathfinder Core Classes and Spells be readily interchangeable with Fall of Man?

[Christina Stiles]

Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

PROS
*I really like the d20/3.5 Gothos source material

*Christina Stiles is on board

Hal has some great folks working on this, and I was an early fan of Hal and Doug's works for d20. I'm very happy I was asked to edit this. I hope you do consider supporting.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Hey I'm already in at the $5 PDF level. Beyond that I'll need to see something exciting that the abovementioned RPGs and tropes haven't explored, or to eplore them in exciting ways...

[xorial]

This is the RPG I have been waiting for. Really, it is. I saw the artwork for this years ago, but then it just vanished. Now it is back & I have definitely backed this project.

[Valen Nemora]

We posted this over on Reddit in response to some questions about the game. Maybe it will help shed a little light on our thoughts when we were developing the game and give everyone some background.

A number of people have requested to know what sets Fall of Man apart from other post-apocalyptic settings including Gamma World, Rifts, Savage Worlds, and Shadowrun (which is not really post-apoc but we include it anyway). The quick answer is tone, but there is so much more to it that I’d like to go into some detail. First let’s talk about the other settings, which currently co-exist on the market, and they co-exist because they are different enough to each find a niche. Before I give summaries of each, please recognize I’m just giving an overview. In no way if I miss a key element of your favorite setting does it mean I think these are all these settings have to offer. They are just quick summaries. One other caveat is that your GM sets HOW the game feels. You might have a light-hearted romp in Gamma World, where your characters are prancing on ponies, firing laser beams at cloud monkeys, and next door another GM has you in a game with an Escape from New York feel. Without further ado, let’s first talk about “fluff” or setting/plot story info:

Gamma World: Gamma World takes a path pulled from the 60-80’s post-apoc settings, but has its underpinnings more in a (TV) Buck Rogers/Logan’s Run outside the main cities or battlefield earth without (or perhaps with for some GM’s) aliens. However it is set far in the future. Its Reese’s Cup is a mix of Fantasy, Post-Apoc and Sci-Fi.

Shadowrun: Shadowrun is not so post-apoc but pre-apoc(ish). Its Reese’s Cup is Blade Runner, 80-90’s internet/virtual reality feel mixed with its type of fantasy.

Savage Worlds: More of a rules system then a setting, a number of Savage Worlds are post-apoc. I think the biggest thing here is Savage World tends to stay human-centric.

Rifts: Rifts is awesome in its embrace of the Lovecraftian, and is chock-full of great items, gear and stories. Like Gamma World it is set far in the future and has energy weapons, juicers and its Reese’s Cup is full of Blade Runner meets Mad Max meets a bit of Spacehulk, meets some fantasy.

Fall of Man: Fall of Man is primarily about conflict. Conflict between what we would call “the real” (current technology, Earth’s various religion belief systems, etc) and the “unreal” (magic, a pantheon of gods, monsters, horrors from our dreams, etc). Its setting time sits extremely close to the apocalypse of its storyline and unlike others, it was not nuclear war apocalypse, but a meteor which should have destroyed the world. That distinction matters because the world DID NOT survive. Instead what “saved” the world is the crux of Fall of Man. Magic. Midnar, the enigmatic being that created Gothos as an offshoot of Earth and its people was the one that saved Earth. All was fine with the coexistence of the two worlds, until Satan’s Maul threatened the survival of Earth, and in turn, Gothos. Midnar had to choose – do nothing and allow Earth to be destroyed, in turn destroying Gothos or sacrificing his creation and allowing many of the creatures, and Gods, of Gothos to cross back over to Earth before he allowed Gothos to bear the destructive forces of the meteor.

Since Midnar, after a long time had passed, was still weakened from the power he spent in his creation of Gothos, it was not a perfect transition/protection leaving Earth in much ruin and Gothos utterly obliterated (but enough survived to allow for cool dimensional crossover adventures). The Reese’s Cup of Fall of Man would be magical fantasy mixed with the real ruined world of the near future.

Crunch: All the other settings bring together their worlds with distinct rule systems. However we wanted to make the barrier to entry as low as possible. Fall of Man has crunch rules to assist in obtaining a gritty feel but more importantly they are designed to work with multiple systems. The best known of which is Pathfinder. Thus the GM can lay the rules onto their preferred system and get going with the feel. This distinction is imbued in both story and crunch, and gives GM’s a sandbox of content which can stay consistent to the voice they want to use.

This sets up a series of possibilities for GM’s who have wanted to do post-apocalyptic but had difficulty shoe-horning their players into doing it.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Hmm. Not entirely convinced, and I feel you gloss over the fact that Shadowrun is essentially elves, orcs, dwarves and dragons with magic in Cyberpunk.

I would be interested a little more if there were much more of the grim and dread, dark and moody of Gothos in FoM - if there is I'm not really getting it.

You mention conflict being a big part of the setting, but that doesn't really tell me much of the setting. Also, what if the playing group isn't interested in that integral conflict - are there other things that could entertain/entice them?

I'd be interested in seeing more of the strange magical/destroyed/maelstrom that is the remnant of Gothos, especially if parts of Earth were pushed through into Gothos and play havoc with those remnants - future/modern-tech and concepts laying waste and/or becoming a powerful force in fragmented locales whose inhabitants are at once sundered from their own world and history and now beset by demons from a mundane world…

I think the thing is more that all of those settings and more have explored the aftermath stuff, what this might offer is another realm, and the ties between the realms are really where the interest lies. Call that conflict if you will… ;)

[ShadowcatX]

Have you and your company (including any free lance authors already signed on to this gig) ever written / published / whatever anything for Pathfinder before? If so what?

Is this your first crowd sourcing attempt?

[Ken Shannon]

Great points Oceanshieldwolf, While Mage's post was more of a general comparison, I hope below gives you a bit more of what your looking for.

Grit. Blood. The nightmares of billions of lives lost in an instant made manifest. With so much darkness, so much loss, it’s hard to be the light. Hell it’s hard to even find the light. But it’s worth it. You might not have survived, but somehow you’re still here. It’s the Fall of Man.

**********
A young boy, voice still high with hopes to match, is shivering in the night. It’s cold and he’s about to go to sleep as the man he has always known as grandpa tucks him in with one hand; a shotgun in the other.
“Are ya glad Grandpa? You know, that you survived the Apocalypse?”
“Son, no one survived the Apocalypse. Satan’s Maul done hit this world like a ton of bricks. It shattered it into pieces. It was so hot, then so cold. It…” The man’s white face seemed even more gaunt than normal. His pale, gray cloudy eyes, even his openly decaying one, flashed with emotion, something the youngster had not seen before.
“Sorry, I know Ma said never to ask you but I want to know more. I want to see more.” The youngster was earnest in his yearning and his practiced reply had worked, he was sure. This time…this time they will let me out of the house.
“Boy, now you listen here. You think I enjoy standing over the family while you sleep, keeping the nightmares at bay? You think we’re going to go let you have new stuff to see and then distort?” The man’s voice was cold and gruff now, missing whatever emotion it had before.
“You liked it the other night didn’t you, when you got to see Grandma. Kyle said she looked just like the picture.” Jimmy was not going to let go just yet.
The blank stare did not change, but a short wince and wry smirk appeared, “Yes, the top half was a mighty fine sight to see. Even after we clipped off the bottom.”
“What the bottom look like?” The boy knew he had already lost the conversation again.
“I reckon you already know. And don’t you worry none. We swept your room for blood stirges and them big nasty roaches…aint no fear you’ll be seeing those again.” The man saw Jimmy’s eye go wide with fear. "But…I might.”

**********

Fall of Man is not elves, dwarves and trolls in suits convening on who is going to do some virtual cosplay tonight. Fall of Man pulls in the world of Gothos. A world LITERALLY made from and created by man’s dreams, fantasies and nightmares. The old man in the story above is a Risen. A human who was alive before the world was torn asunder but who one day, just woke up as some form of undead, in the new world. The Earth is ruined. Not by radiation, but by a physical sundering which wiped out most life and large amount of the seas just for good measure. It survives because it was literally stitched back together by an Ancient God who once had formed a world from his power and the hopes, dreams and nightmares of Man. Parts of that world, Gothos, were literally jammed in, replacing the chucks of Earth that were gone. Seattle? It’s still there, decimated by the sundering. Portland? It’s now a forest full of elves…or something resembling them.

The goal of Fall of Man is a game world where the GM and players have the opportunity to adventure in a setting which is dark and full of all the horrors we can imagine. Searching to find that little bit of hope and faith (and perhaps a semi-automatic or a bloodripper sword) just to survive.

We have devised the world so you can go very adult if you want. Explore what it means to have faith and how that works (even crunch wise!). Play with and tweak to find the perfect blend of technology and magic for yourself and your group. Is this a real world? Is it a representation of the afterlife? Was the Maul the Rapture??? (Note we the game designers feel real world faiths should be treated with respect. The story is presented so the GM can choose what the force behind the one God is.)

Blood Magic and Blight Magic fight and exist alongside the power of the one God (an abstract presentation of the Jewish/Christian/Islamic influences) and technology. People’s nightmares and even their very thoughts can manifest physically. There is a class at higher levels that as they get closer to death, start to conjure their pain as monstrous horrors around them (let’s hope closer to their foes than their friends).

And then there are those who are wholly fantastical. The elves, gnomes, dwarves and other races of Gothos or other realms have all suffered through the transition. The anger of losing their own home and the new physical deterioration and mutations of their own bodies consumes many of these new Earth inhabitants and dealing with these harsh new realities influences and guides much of their thinking.

We wanted a world where as adult role-players you could experience something a bit harsher and dark mixed with our real world in the very near future. A new ruined Earth. But we also realize that most GM’s want to be able to pull in content they are already doing. Thus, the game is designed to be compatible with Pathfinder, 13th Age, Castles and Crusades, and Fate. It has easy plot and story mechanisms to bring players in…and out of the world. After all, was it truly only Gothos that helped caulk up Earth and save it in the end? The crunch is also easy to overlay for existing characters of the various systems, to minimize the transition pain.

Most modern games with grit tend to injure their players on a long term basis. It’s a short life for a reason. Real life is short. But with the infusion of magic this no longer needs to be the case. Our combat system is designed to make injuries affect the character over the “midterm,” perhaps 2-5 encounters. Healing tends to not be instant usually but eventually it gets the job done. So that wound matters for a while, but at 9th level you’re still a hero who can have fun exploring with a great story about the scar you have.

This is a world full of dreamwalkers able to manifest and twist reality (at first only subtly). Of Asphalt Samurai whose code allows for a mix of magic and technology that keeps them alive. Of undead player races who are actually undead, gripped with sorrow and pain and the knowledge of their death. Sparkling vampires have no place here. This is a world where a man with faith in his God might save some of his friends by beating a million to one odds of escaping a building just ignited on fire by a rival Arcanist. This is a world where bullets are treasure and a good meal is worth its weight in gas.

Grit. Blood. The nightmares of billions of lives lost in an instant made manifest. With so much darkness, so much loss, it’s hard to be the light. Hell it’s hard to even find the light. But it’s worth it. You might not have survived, but somehow you’re still here. It’s the Fall of Man.

***
Yeah, so you inspired me to be a bit dramatic. Feel free to shoot holes and ask questions... in any order ya choose.

Sincerely,
Ken Shannon
Samurai Sheepdog

[Valen Nemora]

I am probably missing a few things on this list but here are a few of the people involved with the book and their experience.

Ed Greenwood is best known as the creator of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Ed remains very active in the Realms both through Wizards of the Coast and fan-created websites like Candlekeep. He first contributed to the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting as part of the star-studded design team on the Campaign Setting. Ed has worked on many projects involved with Pathfinder, either directly with Paizo for the RPG line, fiction with the Pathfinder Tales or with numerous Pathfinder compatible projects by third parties.

Clinton Boomer is one of many rising stars in the RPG industry who has gained notoriety thanks to Paizo's RPG Superstar competition. Boomer was one of the final four contestants in the 2008 competition and has since contributed to a number of Pathfinder products. He is also well known for co-writing and co-directing the popular D&D PHB PSA series on YouTube. Boomer has also written a number of notable non-Pathfinder sourcebooks including PC Pearls, Reign of Discordia: Death in the Starlit Expanse, and Kobold Quarterly.

Richard Lee Byers holds a master's degree in psychology. He is the author of more than fifteen books, including tie-in novels in the Forgotten Realms and Warhammer settings, comic books, and Pathfinder Tales web fiction.

Brian Berg ran the very successful Kickstarter for his project Laying Wastes: A Guidebook to Critical Combat which was Pathfinder compatible. Brian has a good knowledge of the Pathfinder system and all it entails.

Hal Greenberg was a contributor to Laying Wastes, giving him a working knowledge of the system.

Although Samurai Sheepdog has not run any Kickstarters before, Hal Greenberg has been a part of two successful ones, Laying Wastes and The Awakened and was also involved with another successful crowdfunding project for Bluffside with Troll Lord Games. He brings a wealth of knowledge with him about the process and about game design in general.

[Valen Nemora]

We wanted to let everyone know about the chat we will be involved with tonight through RPGnet. The Samurai Sheepdog team will be chatting live with everyone about the current Kickstarter for Fall of Man, other products we have in development and anything else of interest. We invite you to stop by and ask any questions you may have. We welcome the interaction. Just click on the link and join us tonight from 8-10 pm EST.

Samurai Sheepdog Chat

[Valen Nemora]

As we teased an in earlier update, the Samurai Sheepdog team was involved in a chat session over on RPGnet, discussing the Fall of Man in more detail. We fielded a lot of great questions about the Fall of Man and what is involved with the setting and we wanted to share the details of the chat in case you couldn't make it. Here is a link to the transcript.

Samurai Sheepdog Chat Transcript