Michael Iantorno PhD Candidate, Game Designer, and Writer

Kickstart Your Week: 3/21/2012

There’s been a lot of attention drawn to Kickstarter over the past month. First internet darling Tim Schaffer successfully raised 3.3 million dollars to fund the development of a classic adventure game. Then, out of nowhere, Brian Fargo repeated the miracle by securing a sequel to Wasteland – a game that came out in 1988! It appears crowd funding has hit the limelight, and indie developers couldn’t be happier. To celebrate Kickstarter – and to exploit the site’s popular for the benefit of my own blog – I’m dedicating a feature to current projects I’m following. If this article ends up being popular, it may become a semi-regular set piece at The World is Square. If not, I’ll find another fad to desperately attach myself to. Here goes!


The Banner Saga

The Banner Saga

Mike would kill me if I didn’t mention this one. The Banner Saga is a tactical roleplaying game project being developed by a splinter group of old Bioware employees. If that isn’t enough to wet your appetite, the game also features lush hand-drawn animation reminiscent of classic Disney movies and a story rooted in Viking mythology. It’s surprisingly well-realized considering its early stage of development Less surprising is how quickly the game reached its $100,000 goal – it’s attached to the Bioware name for heavens sake. Still it’s only $10 for the complete game, and higher tiers of investment will yield a doubtlessly gorgeous digital art book.


Dwimmermount

Dwimmermount

The next project hails from my native Canada. Dwimmermount is a sprawling megadungeon, a tribute to the classic deathtraps of Gygax’s era of Dungeons and Dragons. The game employs a modified version of the Labyrinth Lord rule system and has also been adapted to the Adventurer Conqueror King System. Dwimmermount is well worth a look if you’re interested in classic roleplaying games to any extent. It’ll only run you $10 for PDFs of both the LL and ACKS versions. Although already funded, the team is going to cough up a tantalizing bonus dungeon level if the project reaches its secondary goal of $30 000.


Pure Steam

Pure Steam

Are you a fan of Pathfinder? Are you a fan of steampunk? The three of you who answered yes to both these questions can rejoice. Pure Steam is a campaign setting for the Pathfinder roleplaying game entrenched in the anachronistic and generally irreverent genre of steampunk. Steampunk usually isn’t my cup of tea, but promises of “[e]xpanded options for non-magical healing” and a “plethora of pseudoscience wondrous items” caught my attention. A donation of $15 will land you a PDF of the Pure Steam Core Rulebook, fully compatible with the current edition of the Pathfinder roleplaying system.

1 Comment

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  • I got the poster/special edition donation package for The Banner Saga, and will probably crap my pants when the game is released.

    Sidenote: I think it’s funny how “ex-Bioware employee” is quickly becoming more esteemed than “current Bioware employee”. JUST SAYING.

By Mathew
Michael Iantorno PhD Candidate, Game Designer, and Writer