We have it all and more just for helping some nice guys keep thier newborn game company afloat and help them raise enough to pay some bills and maybe go to a convention or three!

My name is Mike Nystul. I have been a professional game designer since I was in high school. That was a long time ago. Since then I have worked as a freelancer for something like thirty years. I worked in house as a developer for Mayfair Games, TSR and FASA. I spent some time away from the industry but came back last year, inspired by my kids to get back into gaming and back into the biz. Things have changed. The biggest change is that the market is even harder to break into but the good news was that there is a thriving audience for independents that use crowd sourcing to reach a wider audience eager for ingteresting work. 

What happened?

Here's the thing - I like to think I'm good at what I do, but what I'm not as good at as I would like to be is business. I stand by all of my design decisions but not all of my business decisions have been good ones. For example, rather than allow my new enterprise to grow slowly while I maintained a day job, I went "all in", set up a product line like I would have at FASA and hired top notch people like Jeff Laubenstein and Ross Issacs to help me realize my dreams. I also set up a convention without the cash in hand to pull it off. The up side is I now have a thriving studio with several lines about to launch and several more products in development. On that level, I accomplished what I set out to do. Unfortunately my appriach means I'm overextended and struggling to get everything out. We have a plan but we need the time and resources to implement it. 

What we have accomplished

This adventure began with one man (me) deciding to get back into writing and designing. All cool. Simple. As things progressed, I discovered there was a market and an audience so I set about building a company. We now have things we needed from day 1 like productions schedules and workflows. We are in a position to kick ass and take names. So far we have - 

Nystul's Infinite Dungeon: A Megadungeon that will be released one volume at a time with. I'm doing print buying for Volume 1: The Blighted Isle.  

Cairn: Fuzzy Fantasy with art by Jeff Laubenstein. Adventures with Lemur Archers and Badger Warriors that explore a world beset with discord and corruption. In layout and final art. This is a fun game and will be a beautoful book. Check out some art and updates HERE

Axes and Anvils: Dwarven Roleplaying. All dwarves all the time. Play as members of a Clan whose adventures not only provide fortune and glory but can offer prosperity and influence to the Clan itself. The only game I know of that requires a Dwarven toast to qualify a critical hit! Check out our progress HERE

We have several projects in the works for each product line and something like 4 board and card games in development as well as a few new rpg properties. 

What do we need?

Essentially, a war chest. I ran three successful Kickstarters but as many pundits have pointed out, success carries it's own burdens. I brought on more overhead than I should have, it took longer to deliver than it should have and there have been and continue to be endless hidden costs that gnaw away at us. I have read that something like 40% of all funded RPG projects never deliver and most of those never even offer refunds. Because of this climate and how long it has taken us to deliver on our initial offerings we are facing fears of vaporware. I will not allow anything like that to happen.

How can you help?

Donate to the Build the Castle fund. We will use anything collected to pay bills and get things done. You will be helping us keep the balls in the air and the wolves at the door long enough to get everything to market and the cash flow flowing. Everyone I am working with is very excited about the work we are doing and we want to keep doing what we do together. 

Spread the word. Not everone is in a position to help financially. No problem. Help us to find those who willing and able. With the new Facebook regulations being what they are this is now harder than ever and requires some grass roots help to get the word out.

If you are a designer or artist - volunteer to contribute to the Corwdsourced Adventure. This will be a wild ride. The less it costs us, the better and the better it is - the better for everyone!

What's in it for you?

I have set up some premiums to say "thank you" to anyone who helps out. Amoung these are copies of our first three games, all of which are poised to launch on RPG Now and as physical copies to the backers of the original projects. I have added some fun stuff because this is gaming dammit and it should be fun first and foremost!  

The Crowdsourced Adventure

A key part of this fund (fun?) raiser is an off the wall Pathfinder adventure that will be designed around a crowdsourced introduction. We will try to add designers and artists as we go. The result should be a bizarre 8 page one shot that everyone will get in PDF form. If response is good we may have to go higher : ) 

More than [AMOUNT OF TIME] ago the [NAME OF GROUP] arrived on the shores of [NAME OF COUNTRY]. They arived in search of [GOAL] but met with [INITIAL CONFLICT]. Thier leader, [NAME OF LEADER] sent the [HEROIC TRAIT] hero [HERO NAME] on a quest for [QUEST GOAL]. During his quest he obtained the [MAGIC ITEM] which he used to free his people of the threat but he ws laid low and the wonderous item was lost. It has fallen to you and your party to brave the [DANGEROUS TERRAIN], defeat the [MONSTER], survive the [CURSE] and retrive the item to defend the realm from a reborn foe with an insatiable lust for vengeance!

Designers: Mike Nystul, Ross Isaacs

Artists: Jeff Laubenstein