Have you ever backed a tabletop RPG on Kickstarter only to be frustrated by the lack of transparency? Missing updates, no development logs and silence for months?
Many RPG creators are great on Kickstarter, but a few struggle. John G Compton and the development team of the Witchy Wilds want to go one better and run weekly live streams to include you in the development process. The campaign has just launched and will succeed if backers find $17,800 worth of support.
The Witchy Wilds uses divination techniques to accomplish actions. Most tabletop gamers are familiar with dice, which are sometimes used in divination, and the Witchy Wilds adds in tarot plus some others.
What others? I guess we might find out in the weekly live streams discussing the game’s development.
Players will build the game together, with a modern setting by default (but offer other suggestions), with modern witches characters.
If the campaign goal is met, the core rules will be a hardcover of 96-pages of art, photography, short stories, poems, and the rule system and adventures.
One day 1 the Witchy Wilds quickstart rules will come out, including the rules’ basics. At least, as they are now, you can play along with the team with them.
Sound good so far? The pledge tiers introduce complexity.
The first tier with a reward is Hardcover and Livestream Access, and there’s no mention of a tier with Quickstart rules before that, and that tier requires a pledge of $120.
Livestream access means joining the creatives for a year not at the design table but as an audience member. It’s unclear whether the Witchy Wilds stream will be viewable by anyone else.
It might also be the case that the product is so far off, needing at least a year of development, that the team isn’t taking backing pledges for it as a standalone deliverable yet.
There are higher level tiers; the $200 is limited to 250 and adds surprises tucked into the pages of the hardback.
Then, at $300, you also get to join the team as an occasional playtester and from this tier, I infer that the $120 is audience member, not participation, only.
What are your thoughts? Strike up a discussion and leave a comment below.