Investigative tabletop roleplaying in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy America! Nine hundred years of future history, with adventure, mystery, war, and exploration around every corner. Uses the GUMSHOE rules.
Okay, so once upon a time I had this really cool story about the Fermi Resolution, and how it started out as a short story that morphed into a TTRPG setting before morphing back into three novels, two short story collections, and more books and stories along the way. It's a great narrative: unfortunately, it's probably incorrect. Eight years ago I was apparently working on everything at once, and I have no clue what came first. Maybe it was the fiction. Maybe it was the roleplaying game. I figure I'll let my biographers figure it out.
The artwork is by Ben Fleuter, who is also responsible for Snake-men looking the way that they do. Mostly because his version of the species looked far better than mine, dang his eyes.
What I can confirm is that the RPG setting is near and dear to my heart, and when I finally published my first novel FROZEN DREAMS (via Kickstarter and Backerkit!) I was thrilled that one of the stretch goals was to get a version of it put together that would allow people to play it. Sure, it wasn't ready to be sold, but that'd be a mere formality, right?
Just another day at the office.
Fast forward to five years later.
The days haven't been unproductive, mind you. Three novels, two short story collections, a bunch more short stories on my Patreon, an upcoming third book (BANSHEE BEACH) in the FROZEN DREAMS series, and... the RPG. I've been trying to get this game into commercial shape for years, and I'm finally in a position where I can do something about it. I have a designer who can add additional art and text, add features beyond my ability to do properly, and make it all work within the parameters of the original layout artist. It's a pretty book already, and I want to make sure that it stays pretty. This will happen.
I just need a little help to pay for all of this. That's where you come in.
It's fantasy. Just not medieval fantasy. At least, not by choice.
In exchange for simply supporting this project at the dollar level, you'll be getting art like the above. At the core pledge level, you'll receive a PDF copy of the Fermi Resolution Worldbook as thanks for your support (which will be fulfilled by Drive ThruRPG). There's also a still higher pledge level:
OPTIONAL DISCOUNTED PRINT-ON-DEMAND VERSION – For this campaign, you will have the option of using DriveThru’s Print-On-Demand (POD) service to purchase a physical, printed copy of the books included in your list of rewards directly from their POD partners at discounted cost. When the POD versions are available to order (sometime after the books have gone to print), you will receive links to purchase these versions of the books/cards from DriveThru.
There's also my physical Fermi Resolution books. You can get signed copies as add-ons!
Scheming continues.
RISKS: minor. The material has already been written (well, there's some additional material that still needs an editorial once-over) and drawn. It's just a matter of putting together the jigsaw puzzle that is a RPG supplement. And even that shouldn't be insurmountable, as the worldbook is about eighty percent constructed as it is. The bottleneck is in paying for it. Even if this project doesn't fund, I'll still be able to pay the fees at some point. It'll just play havoc with my current publishing schedule, that's all. Self-publishing doesn't really have much in the way of liquidity, alas.
But that's my problem, not yours. I hope you'll back my project!
$2,500: An adventure! A rampaging wolf-man attacked a Second Republic caravan, and stole some supplies! Now he's been tracked to the abandoned Old American city of Westhaven, where the air is still heavy with saltwater and rotting seaweed, and the sun struggles to shine. Your party doesn't know yet if this is going to be a confrontation, or a rescue: either way, best to get there soon. Pretty or not, it's just not safe to stay in Westhaven for too long, since the air is also heavy with evil First Age death magic. There may still be things in the murk that the first wave of exorcists missed. (Based on my short story "The Wolf-Man of Westhaven.")
We also have two other achievements at the current time: one to encourage more backers, and one to encourage more people to share the project. Please share!
Digital copies of the Worldbook will be distributed via DriveThruRPG.
Physical signed copies of my novels (available as add-ons) will be mailed to backers. Note: these add-ons are only available for American postal addresses. There is no foreign postage option for book add-ons.
Physical copies of the Worldbook will also be distributed via DriveThruRPG, using their Print-On-Demand system. Specifically: OPTIONAL DISCOUNTED PRINT-ON-DEMAND VERSION – For this campaign, you will have the option of using DriveThru’s Print-On-Demand (POD) service to purchase a physical, printed copy of the book included in your list of rewards directly from their POD partners at discounted cost. When the POD version is available to order (sometime after the book has gone to print), you will receive links to purchase this versions of the book from DriveThru.
In 2100 AD, long after I am dead of old age and thus cannot be criticized for getting things wrong, somebody very smart will discover the laws of magic. Shortly thereafter, somebody very stupid will work out a way to put spellcasting on an app, and download it into everybody's phones. Shortly after that, civilization collapses.
Thoroughly.
Turns out that the discovery of magic is the Great Sort for planetary civilizations, and we did not avoid the usual fate.
Surprisingly, this is not a grimdark world. True, most of the center of North America ended up occupied by a horrible mage-centered empire, but the Universal Dominion never lived up to its name, and by the time of the game setting (the 31st Century AD), they're on the verge of being finally ground into the dust. The people of the Alliance (which includes humans, elves, dwarves [or dwarfs], halflings, orcs, serpent men, mermen, ghulmen, and a bevy of oddities) are likewise on the verge of needing to try to figure out what to do next. It's a great time for adventure, in other words.
Also, the best thing about the world of the Fermi Resolution is that it can fit all sorts of stories in it. So far I've done fantasy pulp detective (FROZEN DREAMS and TINSEL RAIN), Conanesque exploration (MORGAN BAROD), and action, adventure, mysteries, magic, investigations (TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION 1 and 2). There's also a collection of cosmic horror tales that will eventually be on the way, but that's a topic for a completely different day.
Now, who am I, and why should you give me money? Excellent question!
Not me.
I'm Moe Lane, self-published author - and now, game designer. Since 2020 I've been writing a series of novels and short story collections set in the world of the Fermi Resolution, and plan to write quite a few more. I have a Patreon, a website, and a track record of successful crowdfunding. While this is my first time using Backerkit for crowdfunding myself, I've been using them for fulfilment and digital distribution since 2020. I'm familiar with their services, and I've designed this campaign around using them to their best effect. If I didn't think I could effectively produce and get out the Fermi Resolution Worldbook using Backerkit, you would never have seen this project.
They are minor! The material has already been written (well, there's some additional material that still needs an editorial once-over) and drawn. It's just a matter of putting together the jigsaw puzzle that is a RPG supplement. And even that shouldn't be insurmountable, as the worldbook is about eighty percent constructed as it is (click here for a copy of the in-progress book, which is again not finished). The bottleneck is in paying for it. Even if this project doesn't fund, I'll still be able to pay the fees at some point. It'll just play havoc with my current publishing schedule, that's all. Self-publishing doesn't really have much in the way of liquidity, alas.
Too many stairs.
But that's my problem, not yours. I hope you'll back my project!
