Kickstarter

Giant Robots and Elder Things

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Yesterday I was made aware of not one, but two Kickstarters that are entirely relevant to my interests. They're already both funded, but since stretch goals are a thing and in one case a stretch goal is the thing I really want, I'm sharing them with you. Do with this information as you will.

Giant Robots and Elder Things
Do you want to drive an Atlas?

First up is BattleTech. The guys who made Shadowrun Returns want to make a turn-based BattleTech game for the PC. Do I really need to say more? BattleTech is the granddaddy of tabletop giant mech warfare, and it's an IP that's been missing from video games for years. We get some Mechwarrior stuff sometimes, but BattleTech is about the mechs, not the pilots. This one's a little weird as the base goal is just to create a skirmish game. A single-player storyline is unlocked as a stretch goal at $1,000,000 and PvP is the $2,500,000 stretch goal. The Kickstarter is only about $20,000 short of that first goal as I write this, so I think it's safe to assume it'll be reached. As for PvP, meh, I don't need it to be happy. $25 gets you super awesome mech combat from a team who have shown that they can do amazing things with classic gaming IPs.

Giant Robots and Elder Things
Do you want to lose your mind?

Second, we have Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. If you already know Call of Cthulhu there's a good chance that you know what Delta Green is, but for those not in the know Delta Green is a tabletop RPG that basically lets you do Majestic 12 for the Mythos. Where Call of Cthulhu investigators tend to be a rag tag bunch working on their own a Delta Green group will consist of federal agents, government backed scientists and the like. We're not just talking FBI, CIA and the like either. My first (and favorite) Delta Green character was a US Fish and Wildlife agent who encountered some really weird wildlife.

Delta Green originated as a Call of Cthulhu setting; this Kickstarter is to publish a stand alone Delta Green rulebook. $20 gets you an electronic version; $50 gets you the hardcover. I feel pretty safe kicking in to this one since it's the original creators of Delta Green running it, and they have plenty of experience with crowdfunding.

These are the sorts of Kickstarters that make me happiest; proven teams resurrecting games and gaming systems from years past. Now I just need Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford to get on that Star Control Kickstarter I've been desperately hoping for. That would be amazing.

On Making the Jump

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As I write this, the Kickstarter for Battle Chasers: Nightwar is just out of the gate, and the one for an RPG based on the Infinity Miniatures game should be launching at some point soon (allegedly Tuesday). I find the timing interesting, because these are both cases of properties branching out to slightly different fields. Cross-media is getting me in trouble, but it’s almost always interesting.

On Making the Jump
The date is obviously not still accurate.

Comic->Video Game

On reflection, this isn’t an uncommon transition (although it usually goes Comic->Movie->Game). I was actually directed to this initially without knowledge that Battle Chasers had been a comic. The art (both concept and prototype) is awesome, and I found it a bit familiar. Then I found out that Joe Madureira was the artist and knew why. This one seems to have a few Ex-Vigil staff on board, but it remains to be seen if they can do a turn-based RPG as well as they did Zelda. (I’m not going to listen to any arguments that Darksiders is not Zelda.)
On Making the Jump

Wargame->Tabletop RPG

On even further reflection, I’ve seen this one before too, from Iron Kingdoms. Iron Kingdoms is in a bit of an odd place here, because it started as a d20 Campaign setting and underwent this process in the opposite direction. The resulting minis game (Warmachine/Hordes) ended up as the more popular product. Infinity is actually somewhat similar, in that it grew out of a home-brew campaign setting. Aware of this, Tam attempted to work the rules into a workable system, but it didn’t go very far. (This was before the customizable spec-ops rules existed). Some of the unique characters in the Nomads faction were the original PCs.
On Making the Jump
The current Iron Kingdoms rules are a direct conversion of the Warmachine/Hordes rules, with some additions made for things player characters do that minis usually don’t, like talking to people, or actually recovering from injury. The result is that minis from the wargame are perfectly valid enemies once you give them more than a single hit point. (There are exceptions. Named Casters are generally not going to be reasonable opponents, for instance.) The Infinity rules seem to be going a slightly different route. It’s using a system not based on the minis game, but instead just preserves elements of it. Ability resolution is familiar, but not identical; it still uses d20s in a blackjack-like way, but from there the games diverge greatly. I missed the playtests, so I don’t know that much about it, but it’s a custom system that uses 2d20s to generate a number of successes.
On Making the Jump
While Corvus Belli (The company that produces Infinity) isn’t directly responsible for the RPG, they are producing materials to go with it. I really look forward to seeing what happens with it. The original Bran Do Castro seems to like it, so here’s hoping I do too.

On Making the Jump

by

As I write this, the Kickstarter for Battle Chasers: Nightwar is just out of the gate, and the one for an RPG based on the Infinity Miniatures game should be launching at some point soon (allegedly Tuesday). I find the timing interesting, because these are both cases of properties branching out to slightly different fields. Cross-media is getting me in trouble, but it’s almost always interesting.

On Making the Jump
The date is obviously not still accurate.

Comic->Video Game

On reflection, this isn’t an uncommon transition (although it usually goes Comic->Movie->Game). I was actually directed to this initially without knowledge that Battle Chasers had been a comic. The art (both concept and prototype) is awesome, and I found it a bit familiar. Then I found out that Joe Madureira was the artist and knew why. This one seems to have a few Ex-Vigil staff on board, but it remains to be seen if they can do a turn-based RPG as well as they did Zelda. (I’m not going to listen to any arguments that Darksiders is not Zelda.)
On Making the Jump

Wargame->Tabletop RPG

On even further reflection, I’ve seen this one before too, from Iron Kingdoms. Iron Kingdoms is in a bit of an odd place here, because it started as a d20 Campaign setting and underwent this process in the opposite direction. The resulting minis game (Warmachine/Hordes) ended up as the more popular product. Infinity is actually somewhat similar, in that it grew out of a home-brew campaign setting. Aware of this, Tam attempted to work the rules into a workable system, but it didn’t go very far. (This was before the customizable spec-ops rules existed). Some of the unique characters in the Nomads faction were the original PCs.
On Making the Jump
The current Iron Kingdoms rules are a direct conversion of the Warmachine/Hordes rules, with some additions made for things player characters do that minis usually don’t, like talking to people, or actually recovering from injury. The result is that minis from the wargame are perfectly valid enemies once you give them more than a single hit point. (There are exceptions. Named Casters are generally not going to be reasonable opponents, for instance.) The Infinity rules seem to be going a slightly different route. It’s using a system not based on the minis game, but instead just preserves elements of it. Ability resolution is familiar, but not identical; it still uses d20s in a blackjack-like way, but from there the games diverge greatly. I missed the playtests, so I don’t know that much about it, but it’s a custom system that uses 2d20s to generate a number of successes.
On Making the Jump
While Corvus Belli (The company that produces Infinity) isn’t directly responsible for the RPG, they are producing materials to go with it. I really look forward to seeing what happens with it. The original Bran Do Castro seems to like it, so here’s hoping I do too.

On Secondary Sin

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Blaugust Post #23

Divinity Original Sin: Enhanced Edition is coming out “soon” on PC and the current console generation. I never finished it, but I am a big fan of the original release. Owners of the original will receive the enhanced edition for free, which is in line with what they’ve done for their previous games.

On Secondary Sin

A sequel, Original Sin 2, is now on Kickstarter. It’s one of the cases where simply promising more of the same would probably get me interested, but it looks like they’re doing a lot more than that. One of the best features of Original Sin is the ability to disagree with your partner, which results in you playing Rock Paper Scissors against each other. Points for winning are determined by your persuasion stat, and the first to 10 gets to determine what the party does.

On Secondary Sin

Original Sin 2 seems to expand on this concept, and actually let the party work on objectives at odds with each other. No word on if it will allow what Tam refers to as the “GM Victory”, but I honestly kind of hope so. It also expands co-op to include up to 4 players.

On Secondary Sin

They’re also tweaking the battle system, which was already one of the best turn-based systems I’ve seen in a long time. Given the character I played the first time around (a ranger-type) I’m not sure a cover system is going to be terribly helpful, but I’m willing to give it a chance. More interactions mostly increases the potential for unintended hilarity. And I appreciate that there are more options for the player than just humans.

On Secondary Sin

I haven’t looked forward to a Kickstarter game this much in a long time. It smashed its funding goal on the first day, so it seems likely we’ll be playing this at some point next year.