The Kickstarter is just about to hit its halfway point, and so far they are just over 67% of the way to being funded. People feel somewhat optimistic about its chances, given the timeframe involved, but there's still a big gap between what's been pledged and what they need. If you're interested in a Pathfinder cRPG based on the 2e rules, and you haven't checked it out, the link is in the title.
And a friendly reminder that the pricing is actually in Canadian dollars, so most people will have a friendly conversion rate given the CAD's current value.
The developers have been doing some interviews, though their ground game doesn't seem to be particularly strong. I've collected some of their media tour below.
They've also posted a couple of updates to the Kickstarter page:
Update 1: Approaching 60% Funded!
Dear Demanders,
Today, we are happy to celebrate that we are a goblin's breath away from 60% funded with over 4,000 backers and nearly $300,000 CA raised!
Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand is our dream game. To all who have backed, THANK YOU for sharing our vision of a single-player, turn-based Pathfinder Second Edition CRPG that takes role-playing back to its roots with miniature-based characters and digital dice to recreate the look and feel of a tabletop RPG. With your support, we had a strong launch and were 40% funded in only two days!
To those who have not yet backed, we invite you to learn more on our Kickstarter page and in our interviews.
Looking for more reveals? We’ve only just begun. Don’t miss these interviews with Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand Product Director, Alan Miranda:
LIVE Q&A WITH DRAGON'S DEMAND DEVELOPER - PATHFINDER 2E VIDEO GAME with Nonat1s on YouTube
Discussing Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand with Project Manager Alan Miranda of Ossian Studios with Really Dicey on YouTube
We have more exciting interviews in the days ahead!
Here’s a behind-the-scenes insight: For our in-game “props,” we partnered with Gracewindale Mini Scenery because we loved the style of their tabletop scenery and wanted to include it in our game Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand. Their entire line of 3D printable STL props are fantastic, so please check them out! www.gracewindale.com
Every Kickstarter needs its backers to amplify the campaign, so please share your enthusiasm with your friends and ask them to join the party. Your recommendation and word of mouth are invaluable. You can also shout out about us on social media–Kickstarter makes that easy. We’ve dreamed big, and we need your help to make this dream a reality!
In Gratitude,
Ossian Studios
Update 2: Spread the Word With This Surprise
Greetings Demanders!
We've been busy getting the word out there for Pathfinder: The Dragon's Demand, doing interviews this week with PC Gamer, The Rules Lawyer, and Matt Chat (all soon to be posted). They're all super excited for this game! Being both video gamers and tabletop players, they could relate to the miniatures and dice, and were intrigued by the prospect of playing in a 3D cubic grid system where characters can do all kinds of cool things.
The vertical movement in a full 3D grid can take your character almost anywhere they want to go. You can levitate to a window at the top of a tower or climb down a chimney for undetected infiltration (mind the fire!). You can rain down volleys of arrows on your unsuspecting enemies from the cover of tree branches or send swooping monstrosities spiraling away with magical blasts of wind. This is a whole new dimension for tactical combat CRPGs!
And speaking of flying monstrosities, the grioths from the Dark Tapestry inhabit frozen, lifeless worlds in the blacks voids of space, and continuously seek out warm worlds to conquer by ritualistically tearing them away from their suns. But now, these bat-like humanoids have come to the small town of Belhaim with an inscrutable purpose...
https://2e.aonprd.com/MonsterFamilies.aspx?ID=240
So we'd like to bring these creatures to everyone who has backed us so far. In this update, we're giving the Grioth STL from our miniatures collection as a free gift via the link below! If you share the file, don’t forget to tell people where you got it. ;) Thank you all for your support and please keep telling your friends about the game to spread the word so we can reach our funding goal!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sjVYeMHYWE81tvjWSB47UWI8oLvlZaAZ?usp=sharing
(Printed and painted by our art director, Philip Lyon)
In Gratitude,
Ossian Studios
Update 3: Weaving a Narrative
Greetings, Demanders!
We’re thrilled to announce the project is now 66% funded with a little over two weeks remaining. With your continued support and enthusiasm – and, if we may so bold as to ask, social media shares and word-of-word – we’re hoping to smash through the funding target and into the stretch goals with the force of Gorum exploding across the realms!
I'm Luke Scull, lead designer and writer for Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand, and I want to talk about our approach to implementing the game’s story and many colorful characters, as well as how we plan to grant the player agency in interacting with this beautiful world our artists have created.
Firstly, it is important to state that Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand is a deep, intricate computer role-playing game with all the narrative depth and dialogue complexity of the most celebrated titles in the genre. Players will experience a compelling new plotline that weaves the machinations of the Dark Tapestry into the high fantasy story of a town under threat from a wicked dragon.
During the adventure, the player will meet hundreds of NPCs that can be interacted with. How these characters respond to the party will depend on the player’s choices and the dialogue skills they possess. Do you wish to be a paragon of virtue and help the many colorful characters that dwell within Belhaim? Or would you rather take advantage of those you meet, and lie, cheat, and steal for profit, or to deepen your connection with the mysterious dark benefactor who haunts your dreams?
Every NPC in Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand has a story to tell. Unique dialogue options will show up depending on the player character’s ancestry, background, and class, as well as their reputation, for as the hero’s legend grows, the people of Belhaim will begin to react to their deeds. Harm too many people or loot too many houses and you may find yourself almost as reviled as the great scaled beast that threatens town. Go out of your way to do favors for folk and they will cheer your name as you walk by. Some may even gift you powerful items or show up to aid you.
The world of Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand is hugely reactive, with every choice the player makes changing how the story plays out, and deciding the fates of the hundreds of characters who call Belhaim and the surrounding environs home. No two players will have the same experience: in fact, the game will encourage multiple playthroughs with different character builds to fully experience the breadth of possibilities.
Allow me a moment to talk about companions. We plan to have a total of 12, of which the player can select up to three to travel with at any time, for a total party of four. Aside from the Iconic goblin alchemist Fumbus, these companions have yet to be announced, but each will have their own backstory, character arc, and associated quests. Companion relationships with the player character, as well as each other, will shift as the story unfolds. Upset a companion too often and they may leave the party permanently… possibly to show up later as a sworn enemy. Impress a companion often enough and new dialogue options will be revealed—perhaps even leading to romance, if Shelyn wills it…
These companions, as well as important story NPCs, will be voiced by experienced actors, bringing some of the best voice talent to Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand. With thousands of voiced lines and enough dialogue to fill several fantasy novels, my ambition as lead writer is to provide a deep world of incredible complexity and unforgettable characters that is every bit as engaging as the best tabletop campaigns.
Finally, I would like to say how excited I am about working with Pathfinder fans on incorporating their own creations into the game. Our higher reward tiers allow backers to include their own personalized magic item, NPC, bard song, or even quest in Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand. These would henceforth become part of official Pathfinder lore, to be discovered and enjoyed by players from release to ten or twenty years from now.
If you’ve ever had a beloved magic weapon from your tabletop campaigns that you wish to see included, or you’re a GM who would love to see a favorite quest you once wrote experienced by thousands of players worldwide, consider investing in one of these higher tiers. Your support will also help push the game towards its funding goal and beyond—maybe unlocking new stretch goal features to include even more of the magic of what makes Pathfinder Second Edition so special!
In Gratitude,
Ossian Studios
This shouldn't be a surprise. Public figures tend to not know how things work, and politicians tend to be optimistic about things that big businesses are spending a lot of money on.
AI sounds great in an elevator pitch, and that's all most politicians and execuitive-level business folks are working with. And they're all very susceptible to "everyone else is doing it" type arguments.