[LPJ Design] Announces the 1st ALL FEMALE written Adventure Path for Kickstarter, Empire of Tears

For all of you who were not at PaizoCon, you missed the little reveal/announcement that was made about out NEXT kickstarter, after we finish sending out our current two kickstarter; Free RPG Day 2013 & Obsidian Apocalypse. 

This new kickstarter named Empire of Tears will be coming in early 2014 and it will be our 1st ever adventure path for Pathfinder. What makes Empire of Tears so different from any other adventure path out there? Well first off it is going to be completely written by Female RPG writers. Christina Stiles is heading this one up as the project manager and we have several other well-known and respected female RPG writers in the industry who are "available for this project".  The Empire of Tears adventure Path will be easily to integrate into any generic, retail store run or homegrown Pathfinder campaign. This adventure path then takes your party on journeys to new and unique locations including the world of Exodus, campaign world for the NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign Setting.

We are also looking to do some threshold goals that we will be teaming up with other well know 3PPs to provide great add-ons, encounters and side treks tied to this adventure path and their own campaign worlds.

Expect to hear more about this kickstarter project in coming months.

My suggested rewards from Empire of Tears

As I am planning for Empire of Tears I have created my initial list of rewards that I would like to offer with this kickstarter. I wanted to take these one by one so you can understand my reasoning for doing these rewards.

Pledge $1 or more

PEASANT: All donors at this level will receive a personal thank you from Louis Porter Jr. on supporting this project and a computer desktop wallpaper background of the Iconic characters for created by the LPJ Design NeoExodus: A House Divided artists.

Reasoning: Since the $1 is lowest rate, we like to give you more than a simple thank you. I believe that if you give us money you should get something. 

Pledge $5 or more

COMMONER: As per the Peasant with the addition of all donors at this level will be listed in the game credits as a donor and will receive a playtest draft PDF copy of the first adventure of the Empire of Tears adventure saga.

Reasoning: I like letting people see what we get when the writer is finished.  When the writer is finished, it is just the start of the work for getting a project out.

Pledge $10 or more

IMPERIAL COMMONER: As per the Commoner with the addition of all donors at this level will receive a finalized PDF copy of the first adventure of the Empire of Tears adventure saga.

Reasoning: This is the basic cost of the first adventure which we are planning a at least a $7.99 cost so it is a good discount 

Pledge $25 or more

RETAILERS STARTER KIT EXCLUSIVE FOR NEOEXODUS: Please contact us directly to learn about the Retailers Exclusive reward we have for this kickstarter. This reward is also exclusive for retailers only. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $20 for shipping)

Reasoning: This is a offer that we created to help get retailer involved in our kickstarters while at the same time offering this a new line for Pathfinder for stores.  

Pledge $36 or more

IMPERIAL MAN-AT-ARMS: As per the Imperial Commoner with the addition of all donors at this level will receive a PDF copy of each of the 4-part adventures of the Empire of Tears adventure saga.

Reasoning: This is just the discounted collected cost. Good deal if people just want the PDFs.

Pledge $45 or more

IMPERIAL SPECIALIST: As per the Imperial Man-At-Arms with the addition of all donors at this level will receive a PDF copy of the 16 page Empire of Tears adventure saga Bestiary.

Reasoning: I like creating monsters and we are doing this as a way to add cool monsters to the adventures to change up/swap out some of the monsters listed in the adventures. 

Pledge $60 or more (Limited to 30)

EARLY BIRD IMPERIAL NOBEL SPECIAL REWARD: You will receive all the rewards of Imperial Nobel ($75) which includes all the rewards of the Imperial Specialist, with the addition of all donors at this level will receive a black & white limited edition collected edition of Empire of Tears adventure saga AND a 7 die set of dice! That's D4, D8, two D10, D12, D20 and a custom D6. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $20 for shipping)

Reasoning: Personally I like give a reward for people who show up first and commit. Our true fans will support us early and they should be rewarded for it. Better still you get a set of dice WITH a B&W copy of the book in addition to everything else. It is a good solid deal.

Pledge $75 or more

IMPERIAL NOBEL: As per the Imperial Specialist, with the addition of all donors at this level will receive a Limited Edition black & white collected edition of Empire of Tears adventure saga AND a 7 die set of dice! That's D4, D8, two D10, D12, D20 and a custom D6. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $20 for shipping)

Reasoning: This is a great reward for those who like a limited edition collected printed book.  If you want an actual printed copy of the book this is your level.

Pledge $100 or more (Limited to 20)

EARLY BIRD IMPERIAL JANISSARY SPECIAL REWARD: You will receive all the rewards of Imperial Janissary ($115) ) which includes all the rewards of the Imperial Specialist , with the addition of all donors at this level will receive full color limited edition collected edition of Empire of Tears adventure saga. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $30 for shipping)

Reasoning: As I said at the $60 pledge level, this one is for fans.

Pledge $115 or more

IMPERIAL JANISSARY: As per the Imperial Specialist, with the addition of all donors at this level will receive full color limited edition collected edition of Empire of Tears adventure saga. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $30 for shipping)

Reasoning: This reward is for those who like color versions of books.

Pledge $150 or more (limit of 10)

IMPERIAL COUNCIL MEMBER: As per the Imperial Janissary, with the addition of all donors at this level will receive your likeness and features will serves as artist reference for a future NPC including a portrait of you by one of the LPJ Design artists (which you'll receive as a digital print). 

Reasoning: Nothing is cooler than having you face in a RPG book.  That is hard to beat.

Talk to you later...

Transparency Agenda #013: Warren Ellis, Transhumanism and Fantasy

More cool ideas for Empire of Tears Pathfiner Kickstarter…

So I am thinking about rewards for our upcoming Empire of Tears Kickstarter, and I know I want to do some add-on 8-page or even 16 page sidetrek adventures where you get to expand what we are planning. I think we could do about 4 to 6 of them that would tie into the adventure saga itself and introduce more cool stuff to this setting.  Think of them as DLC (Downloadable Content) for video game series like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or Dragon Age.  Plus it give me an opportunity to add so really cool ideas I have been kicking around like the Min Tarac Sal (AKA Chaotic thoughts made flesh/real) and the Gatherers (inspired from Mass Effect’s Collector soldiers). Unique monster types that you would not normally see in a fantasy setting.  Just some more thoughts that Christina Stiles is going to have to help develop with this kickstarter.  

Transparency Agenda #011: When artists go BAD!!!

Supporting Retailers with our Empire of Tears Kickstarter

Since we are planning to support retailers with our upcoming 2014 kickstarter, Empire of Tears adventure saga, we have created three levels of support that I think the majority of retailers will find very attractive reason to carry this Pathfinder kickstarter in their retail locations. Here is the levels of their donation:

Pledge $25 or more

RETAILERS STARTER KIT EXCLUSIVE FOR NEOEXODUS: Please contact us directly to learn about the Retailers Exclusive reward we have for this kickstarter. Retailers who will receive this award will have it at least 2 month before donors receive their rewards. This reward is also exclusive for retailers only. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $20 for shipping)

Pledge $45 or more

RETAILERS EMPIRE OF TEARS EARLY RELEASE REWARD: We will release two sets of the black & white editions of each of the adventures of Empire of Tears adventure saga (8 adventures in total) for retailer. In addition, retailers who will receive this award will have it at least 2 month before donors receive their rewards. This reward is also exclusive for retailers only. (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $20 for shipping)

Pledge $60 or more (Limited to 25)

RETAILERS COMPLETE EARLY BIRD REWARD: Retailers will receive the Retailers Starter Kit Exclusive for NeoExodus ($25) and Retailers Empire of Tears Early Release Reward ($45) reward levels. Retailers who will receive this award will have it at least 2 month before donors receive their rewards. This reward is also exclusive for retailers only.  (This includes domestic US shipping - International customers please add $25 for shipping)

OK retailers what do you think? We are open to all responses.

Transparency Agenda #008: Retailers and Kickstarter working together so BOTH can be successful!

Great stuff going on this week at LPJ Design!

Well we go a lot of great news going on here including a big announcement for possibly Friday. Also spoke to a few people on some very cool ideas and how they will be able to help out on the upcoming Empire of Tears Kickstarter. While I can't tell you all the people we spoke to since deals are not finalized, I can tell you our friends over at Dreamscarred Press are going to be directly involved with this kickstarter.

In addition Jeff has started working on the long waited Enemies of NeoExodus: Cyrix (see image below) and you Pathfinder RPG by Paizo fans are going to find out what it really means to be a hero. So much great stuff going on. Talk to you later...

Here is a crazy Kickstarter idea: How about a 100% transparent kickstarter so you can see everything?

Since we are planning to do a 4-part Empire of Tears Pathfinder RPG adventure saga for early 2014, how about if LPJ Design had a completely 100% transparent kickstarter. I mean that we will let you see EVERYTHING we are doing on this from all sides including behind the scenes? I mean 100% full disclosure.  We will tell you what we are paying the writers, editors and artist.  We give you the info on how many pieces of artwork we are looking for. We'll tell you how much writing we are planning to use. We'll tell you how we can use cool ideas to keep cost down while at the same time making this kickstarter even cooler than you know. I will even tell you when people flake out, people I tried to get but it didn't work out and who I had to get to replace them.  I think this would be a good opportunity to get a better understanding of how to do a successful kickstarter and what you can do to make it even better. 

Would you interested is seeing how we do that? Do you think that is something people fans and business folks would like to learn and read?  Please let us know and if we get enough interest, then we will have a completely transparent Empire of Tears kickstarter.  Talk to you later…