I made a Kickstarter! It’s in pre-launch, and will be going live this week, and I’m excited but also terrified. There is so much to do to make it look seamless and easy – which is the same as any project, really, but still. It’s my first time doing any sort of crowd-funding campaign from the creator’s side, and it’s a lot.
The elevator pitch: What would the world look like if sailing ships and spice-trading caravans wended their way across the ancient world, beset by dragons and manticores, competing with fleets of faster but more expensive airships? Yarthe is an alternate history version of Earth, where magic brought the industrial revolution on a bit faster, as well as causing a few other important changes to the political and economic landscape. It is a world where Technomancers push the boundaries of what is possible in both good and not so good directions with magic melded to mad science and mad engineering, where subterranean Ghost Elves sail submarines through the underground rivers and flooded caves of the Deeps, and where the city-states of Europa compete to produce the most impressive artistic, magical and technological marvels, unaware of the eldritch horrors pressing against the very fabric of reality alla round them.
There’s more to it, of course. A whole world’s worth, from the deserts and rainforests of Akebulan, with its ancient cities and centres of learning to the politics and power of the Empire of the Sun in the far east, from the merpeople of the vast island chain that is the Spine of the World to the as-yet undiscovered (by Europans) continent of Terra Australis, and the secrets of the lost Elvish homeland of Lemuria, sunken beneath the oceans and remembered ins tories as Atlantis, the Shining City of the ancient Elves.
The Yarthe campaign setting is aimed at (and contains rules & mechanics for) 5E and pathfinder, but it’s applicable to any fantasy system really and could easily be tweaked to use with Dungeonworld, Tiny D6, Fate, etc.
Come and check out the Kickstarter – support, follow along, and share the link far and wide. After all, adventure awaits the bold…
