There have been a ton of Pathfinder-based Kickstarters going on in the past few years. Since I don't have all the money in the world I wind up having to do a lot of soul searching to decide if I really need a product before I back, so here are the Pathfinder Kickstarter campaigns that have caught my attention.
Unfinished Kickstarters:
Aethera.
This one is kind of a tall order. Fifty Thousand dollars by the end of November is huge and granted the book looks just as huge and ambitious with a huge staff of pro developers, and some pretty sick artwork, I'm a bit skeptical that it will get funded. If it meets it's goal it will be a huge testament of the demand for some space in our Pathfinder.
I already backed and shared because if it does get off the ground it looks to be a great book. There's a lot of talent behind it, the setting information makes for a nice setting to get your scifi and keep your magic while you're at it. In fact this is the first time I've been this excited over a space setting for Pathfinder. Then there's the promise for a lot of crunch with monsters, items and options for nearly all the classes Paizo has. I could say that the project could be Pathfinder's Spelljammers but I said that about Thunderscape and Ebberon and people aren't nearly as excited about that as they should be.
Collected Kickstarters that I've backed:
Hypercorps 2099
Well if it isn't obvious by now I love using Pathfinder for space opera and dungeonpunk so backing this isn't surprising. But this one is a bit different. Using sort of a Mythic-like overlay Hypercorps grants players comic book superpowers. All this happens with fluff and crunch filling up a super cyberpunk setting. The way I imagine it is Shadowrun with Mutants & Masterminds. Or the opening to the Ultraforce cartoon. And the attitude from the developers helps in that mental image. The whole project makes cyberpunk feels fun, pulpy and a bit corny in the best way. Like a silver age comic book. This is as opposed to the gritty, dreary, nearly noir cyberpunk I'm used to seeing.
Path of Iron
Okay, I'm not going to lie, Path of Shadows sold this book to me. If I didn't look at or review Path of Shadows I would have dismissed this kickstarter, because really I don't think too much about metal as a theme enough to look at the details, preferring to go for more outlandish themes and books. This would have just gone under my radar and I wouldn't have backed it. But Path of Shadows was so good of a sleeper hit that it warrented a look and it looks pretty good. The playtest is shutting down so that means you guys that didn't back this may be able to get your hands on it soon.
Pact Magic Unbound: Grimoire of Lost Souls
I have the two Pact Magic books that gets compiled here so I knew I already liked the class and the concept. With the first two books merging into this one and adding new content and fixing old content this will be a huge book that probably will eclipse the Medium from Occult adventures in my games. It just has the same flavor territory and blows it out of the water with content and has a more flavorful and stable mechanic. Not just that, but other classes can get in on the action of summoning spirits.
Skybourne
Much like Path of Iron, Skybourne is kind of riding on the success of it's older sibling. In this case that's Spheres of Power. The product is tackling an original setting full of airships and a huge range of unexplored territory with a ton of new races and some crunch for working as a team on an airship. The playtest document for this came out recently so you may be able to get a hold of it sometime next year. The playtest, by the way, is phenomenal but the single greatest addition to the game are the races. There are a lot and they are amazing.
Strange Brew
This one gives us a new Witch and a brother base class in the form of The Warlock and I was more than happy to back this because I hate the Witch so much. Paizo's witch class, to me, is the most boring class. When casting takes over most of the class features I already get bored with a class but the hex selection has the problem of some being obviously better so it just leads to cookie cutter witches, and the Patrons do nothing but give bonus spells to it's spell list. I needed a new witch bad. The project has been slow to release due to the developers taking time to finish Bite Me! but it looks to be back on track so may see an actual release soon.
Kickstarters I didn't back but am watching.
Conquest of the Universe
My obsession with space in Pathfinder continues. I would have backed CotU if I had seen it before it was funded. Tripod Machine, while not having that may triple A releases has always had the crunch where it counts. I feel like RJ Grady proved himself enough with A Fistful of Denarii because that product influences a lot even when the classes aren't used. What makes me keep an eye on this though is that it seem relatively low key, which means that its likely not very rules disruptive the way that some scifi titles can be. It already hits some of my sensibilities about using Pathfinder for science fiction by incorporating Anachronistic Adventures (The best classes for Space Opera) and Psionics (The best magic for Space Opera) so I think it will be up my alley and probably be the most complete crunch resource I can find on the subject.
Steampunk Musha
This started forever ago and has been in development hell worse than a Superman movie. But Frog God Games has been in my line of vision more often due to Fantastic Technology and really how can I say no to Asian Steampunk setting with new classes? It just looks exciting so I'm eagerly awaiting when it gets an actual release.
Advanced Races
I was in the middle of preparing for a wedding when this got off the ground so I didn't get to back this. (Weddings are expensive). I'm a bit sad about it. Kobold Press has made some pretty influential products to my table and I could always use a more big books on races as opposed to individual releases of single races. Also I missed out on Gearfolk because I had avoided Dragonkin because of bad reviews, something that seems to have been revamped and improved. This is significant because that's the race I wanted the most. Also there are some new classes involved from what I hear so I'm just waiting enviously for it's actual release.
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