Pride of Giants is one of the strangest Kickstarter projects I’ve read. Not so much for the contents of the game, which has the overestimated goal of making you play everything you want simply and completely. Rather because the presentation and the proposed offer are peculiar to say the least. Could this also be the reason why it is currently struggling to reach the funding threshold? However, I am stubborn so I wanted to understand a little more about this game and the project.
All the eyes to me!
Look at the picture. The subtitle of the project page says
A fantasy TTRPG where you can play anything in this art but the flowers, the sky, and the ground.
Pride of Giants is described as a fantasy d20 roleplaying game that allows you to play how you want and what you want. It is said that it has simple and flexible rules that focus on mechanical effects and get to the point with the least amount of complications possible. Everyone can choose, based on how many optional rules to apply, to make it more complex or simpler according to their preferences.
The game currently has 808 skills and 31 playable races. So far the author says he has dedicated about 3000 hours in a year and a half (on average more than 5 hours a day) and that he would like to double the number of skills and more than double the number of the races. But he can’t do that without the financial support of the campaign and without a community of players who can give feedback.
What does Pride of Giants offer?
Here the situation is complicated because I did not understand the offer very well. A paper manual does not exist and probably never will be. Core rules are already online on Pride of Giants site, to which the author already refers in the description of the project to deepen and prove what he created.
So what are pledges for? Essentially an apology for funding and engaging players who are passionate about the game. You can have the wallpaper, you can join the mailing list to get some preview material to playtest, you can get the T-shirt or the poster. But will the PDF of the rules be available? No! It is a stretch goal to unlock, otherwise you can read it from the site while wearing the shirt paying to be a playtester.
I invite interested and curious people to go and see the details of the offer and presentation directly on the project page.
I told you it was strange.