What Am I Backing Now?

Five projects in the works, vying for my gaming attention!

So, did you hear about the butcher who backed into his meat slicer?

He got a little behind in his work.

Now you know the horror my family experiences on a near daily basis, with jokes coming at ‘em like that. Anyway, what am I backing into these days?¹

First, to misquote Frank Costanza, “You got the A (ABC). The B (NBC). The C (CBS). The D. That’s the biggest.”

I don’t know what D is in this analogy, WGN I guess? I grew up outside of Chicago. Cartoons were limited to Saturday morning and sometimes after school (unless unceremoniously preempted by a Cubs game). I suppose there were also a few odd VHF channels (try to explain that second dial) including Channel 32 and its legendary Son of Svengoolie.

And that was it.

Now it’s Friday night (cue Rebecca Black), and here I am scrolling through my streaming services trying to find something to watch. The problem of course isn’t that there’s nothing to watch, the problem is that there’s too much to choose from. There’s already too many platforms, much less content. Even if I narrow my parameters to more specific interests, there’s still a wealth of options I never could’ve dreamed as a kid. Superheroes were limited to those Saturday mornings, and Star Wars to the original trilogy.²

I’ve been on a bit of a horror kick lately, despite my more cowardly instincts. So I can try and cut something horror with a little bit with humor. Scary, but not too scary, you know?

We just finished Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, so something along those lines…

Well, there’s Widow’s Bay. New series, New England island community. Ghost stories coming to life. Or The Boroughs, another new series. Stranger Things, but in a retirement community. For that matter, there’s a new animated Stranger Things series. Or instead of humor, how about a little Lynchian weirdness? I just heard about Brand New Cherry Flavor, a (somewhat) older series I’ve never heard about, now back in rotation.

It’s hard to keep track of it all. It’s impossible to consume it all, no matter how closely I keep to a narrowed interest.

And that’s great! I’m not limited by the monoculture of my youth. Creators have more tools and platforms than ever, so the real challenge becomes finding what I like, not because it’s scarce, but because it is abundant. I can’t depend on sticking with the major releases. I have to look around, and see what anyone might be creating.

Your niche is well-served if you can find your community. Which works for both creators and audiences these days; we’re all at a mass speed dating event instead of a single fix-up, and there’s more participants on both sides of the table than ever.

We just need help finding each other.

So here’s what I’ve been finding recently—at least in terms of gaming.

1. Old School Essentials: Demonic Grimoire

To say that I’m a fan of demons and devils sounds like the worst fears of 80s Satanic Panic come true, but there it is. Added to that, the black and white illustrations in the 1st edition Monster Manual, and these were some of my favorite monsters of all time. Dave Trampier’s Bone Devil being first on the list.

So for Old School Essentials to produce a “supplement of demons, cults, and dark magic,” I had to check it out.

Old School Essentials: Demonic Grimoire looks perfect for my interests, with an art style to match. Shout out to Lucas Korte as one of the artists as well, who also created the cover for my own book, Bolted to the Bone.

Find it here on Backerkit.

2. Driftforge Games: Vault of Monsters

Two other interests of mine. British (well, and also Celtic) legend, and good copy-writing. Driftforge Games showcases both in their Vault of Monsters:

“Vault of Monsters is a 5e-compatible bestiary inspired by British folklore, regional legends, cryptids, old village warnings, and the sort of local stories that begin with, “Don’t go near that field after dark,” which, as every sensible party knows, is basically an invitation.

“Think Dungeons & Dragons meets British folklore: rain-slick lanes, moorland shapes, things with antlers where antlers absolutely should not be, canal-side rumours, haunted woods, strange lights, old stones, bad decisions, and monsters that feel damp around the edges... ewww.”

Find it here on Backerkit.

3. Tinker Troll Games: Epic Brick Adventures

I don’t know why LEGO doesn’t create more of their own board games. Their version of Pictionary, called Creationary, is out of print but I always thought it was a hell of a concept (building the clues out of bricks, instead of drawing them).

From Tinker Troll Games, Epic Brick Adventures is their stab at a TRPG using LEGO for the pieces of a “collaborative narrative engine”. It looks like a clever colliding of worlds together, and a great way to help introduce younger players (and/or fidgeters like myself) to tabletop RPGs.

(I’ve been similarly curious about Necromolds, which uses clay/Play-Doh as miniature material. Defeat your opponents creatures, and you get to smoosh them. Cool!).

Find it here on Kickstarter.

4. Solid Raven Toys: Rise of Nexus

OK, so even more exciting to me than using LEGO or Play-Doh around the table is the thought of using action figures. I’ve searched for years for a solid rules set for a wargamer way to “play action figures”.

Mythic Legions has their own roleplaying game out now on Kickstarter, which makes specific use of their own 7” inch figures.

But what I’m looking more at though are systems using 1/18” (3 3/4 or 4”) figures. For that, I have my eyes on Rise of Nexus. From Solid Raven Toys, they’re using their own 3 3/4” line to generate associated wargaming rules. How they might make use of the 3 3/4” inch size specifically, I’m curious to see (and how it might play different than just a larger version of any other tactical minis wargame, such as D&D Minis or Heroclix).

Not launched yet, but coming soon here on Kickstarter.

5. Legends of Avantris: Neon Odyssey

Honorable mention goes out to Neon Odyssey! I had the privilege and pleasure to help contribute to the project, and I am thrilled to see how well it’s doing on Kickstarter.

Described as a “1,400+ page Space Opera trilogy for D&D. Blast off to the stars, explore the galaxy, and chart your own cosmic destiny.” It’s big, it’s ambitious, and I hope folks have a hell of a good time playing with the material when it comes out.

Polygon just ran an interview with Mikey Gilder of Avantris.

And you can find it here on Kickstarter.

This article’s thumbnail from Unsplash | Clint Bustrillos.

1. As far as I know, I never did come across anything resembling Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater. I still remembering listening to that book during Elementary School library readalouds, along with Lost in the Devil's Desert by Gloria Skurzynski and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

2. I too had a Boba Fettish, I would’ve killed for anything more Boba Fett, and now there’s so much Boba Fett (and attendant Mandalorian) that I’m not even all that compelled to watch the next movie (I mean, I will. But maybe a few weeks after release).