What is Pagans of the Desolate Wastes
Pagans of the Desolate Wastes is an adventure and campaign setting for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess old school role playing game. One hundred years ago, a psionic event known as the Cataclysm shaped the planet Califere and its inhabitants. This event separated the inhabitants into the mad Sidhe and the misshapen chimeras. In addition to those on Califere's face, an unfordable rift had been driven between the two factions. In addition to the adventure in PotDW, there will also be:
- A brief history and map of Califere
- Racial class for the Sidhe
- Racial descriptions of the Sidhe and chimeras
- Statistics for relics from before the Cataclysm
- And monsters and NPCs from Califere
Why Lamentations of the Flame Princess?
James Edward Raggi IV's Lamentations of the Flame Princess was selected as the OSR rules set of choice for Pagans of the Desolate Wastes due to its more weird and raw feel than other similar RPGs. Despite this choice, PotDW will work with any OSR rules set just as well. In fact, we play tested PotDW with Swords and Wizardry Whitebox!
Why Crowdfunding?
The goal of one thousand dollars is the bare minimum that we will be able to receive and still be able to afford to make Pagans of the Desolate Wastes a satisfactory product. Around three hundred will go to layout. After platforms fees, that means that around six hundred dollars will go towards art (including maps). Due to the high quality art we desire for this project, we'll be able to commission the maps, the cover, and around ten pieces of interior art. This is the minimum amount of art we are willing to include in PotDW and still consider it a finished product.
Inspirations
Pagans of the Desolate Wastes draws its inspiration from many varied sources. However, the primary three sources that have inspired PotDW are:
- Blue Öyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"
- H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour from Out of Space
- Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy
Stretch Goals
Depending on if we surpass the initial goal of $1,000 by enough, there are several stretch goals that you can unlock.
- $1,250: Isometric Map; At this point, I will be able to afford commissioning an isometric map instead of a more traditional top-down map.
- $1,750: Limited Print Run; If we reach this level, I'll be able to print 100 copies of Pagans of the Desolate Wastes and ship it to 100 backers. Plus, these backers will still receive all benefits of their pledge level!
- More Stretch Goals: Once the Isometric Map stretch goal is reached, I will detail more stretch goals that can be reached.
Graphic Artists
The artists I am looking to commission are:
- Nathan Paoletta: Nathan D. Paoletta is a graphic artist, game designer and independent publisher hailing from Chicago, IL. He publishes his own games, including the award-winning World Wide Wrestling RPG, in addition to helping other creators make their visions a reality. He makes bad jokes about pro wrestling on twitter @ndpaoletta and obsesses over The Rockford Files @TwoHundredPod. Find out more at ndpdesign.com.
Jeremy Hart: Jeremy Hart will be doing the interior artwork. His Patreon can be found here and he sells stock art on DriveThruRPG, that can be found here.
Naiche Washburn: Naiche Washburn has worked for companies such as Little Red Goblin Games and Rogue Genius Games, and has a tumblr where you can see examples of work here.
Luka Rejec: Luka Rejec of Wizard Thief Fighter will be creating the map for the module. You can see more of Luka's works on G+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/ozEE2), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/wizardthieffighter/), Deviant Art (http://lukc.deviantart.com), and, if you're into cute stuff, Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lukarejec.art/). His works are all over the place because consolidation takes time that he doesn't take. You can even support Luka's epic fantasy stuff on Patreon.
Robert Altbauer: Robert Altbauer is a freelance cartographer from Salzburg, Austra who runs fantasy-map.net and who has created maps for several other companies in the roleplaying game industry.
Example Artwork
Here is some amazing artwork for Pagans of the Desolate Wastes by Jeremy Hart in order to give you a feel for what the artwork in the final product will look and feel like.
On Fulfillment
Print copies Pagans of the Desolate Wastes will be fulfilled through DriveThruRPG's Print on Demand service. However, you will only receive the ability to buy copies at cost with the pledges that offer this. For relevant information, see below:\
Example Pages
In order to give you a feel for what I've written for this setting, here is a link to a few selected pages from the current iteration: http://goo.gl/geg47e. It contains a few of the items, the beginning of the description of the Sidhe, the Automated Helpful Handyman, and the stats for the Floating Dodecahedron of Imminent Painful Doom. Note: Not all of the creature's names are that long!
Risks & Challenges
This is my first crowdfunding campaign, so it does make sense for you to be concerned. And, like all crowdfunding campaigns, there is a certain element of risk involved. There is a possibility that someone will get sick or otherwise be unable to work on the project or that we'll run into other problems along the way. Luckily, as this is a small project, the likelihood of this happening is quite small. If this does happen, I will try to keep you as updated as possible throughout the process and unless it is utterly impossible, try to deliver the product as promptly as possible.