The new third-party Dungeons and Dragons book Broken Weave has managed to exceed all expectations by raising over 18 times the amount that the developers needed in Kickstarter. This dark fantasy Dungeons and Dragons title replaces traditional orcs and goblins with dark creatures of the night fought by tragic heroes in a world full of decay.
Described as a “post-apocalyptic tragic fantasy setting” for Dungeons and Dragons 5E, this new book takes most of its inspiration from FromSoftware best-sellers such as Dark Souls and Elden Ring, as well as Shadow of the Colossus, according to the developers. The idea is to have a stark contrast with traditional fantasy settings where the heroes are off to epic adventures to save the day. Instead, they are broken survivors who fight horrors and hope to beat the odds and create a better tomorrow. So, any player who spent hours trying to beat the hardest bosses in Soulsborne games will have plenty of fun with the setting.
Today, Cubicle 7, the Ireland-based team behind Broken Weave, has managed to obtain €180,068 (around $190,000) in Kickstarter funding from 2,111 backers. This was just a bit over 18 times their initial goal of €10,000 and helped to ensure that the product will be out this year. The book will be compatible with Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, which is only possible because the Dungeons and Dragons community recently won the OGL argument against Wizards of the Coast.
Back in January, a leaked document from Wizards’ OGL 1.1 surfaced. In it, the company would disavow its previous third-party licensing, the Open Game License 1.0a, and enforce draconian rules for anyone who wanted to publish books compatible with their gaming system. Kickstarters would be heavily affected, as any project who got over $700,000 in a year would need to pay royalties over their gross earnings. While Broken Weave didn’t earn that much, its creators would at least need to report financial data to Wizards. Fortunately, tabletop gamers defeated the draft by boycotting services such as D&D Beyond, and Wizards was forced to ensure that the original OGL would be respected.
Unlike Cubicle 7, other tabletop RPG creators have decided to abandon Dungeons and Dragons completely after the drama. It was the case of Kobold Press, which is currently creating a Dungeons and Dragons clone named Project Black Flag. The company’s goal is to enjoy its position as the largest third-party creator in the D&D space and use it to create a successful spiritual successor for the current game, just like Paizo did with Pathfinder a few years ago.
Source: Kickstarter
