u/HistoricalRegion9444

I’ve been quietly working on a dark fantasy TTRPG trilogy. The story itself is finished, but I’m struggling with the title.

At the moment, it’s called “Shattered Crown,” but I’m worried it might be a bit too generic.

The core plot revolves around a century-old conflict that weakened a monarchy. As the story unfolds, the players gradually discover they’re connected to it, and, depending on their choices, they can either break what remains or help restore it.

What does the title make you feel when you hear it? There are no wrong answers, I’m trying to understand the impression it creates before I put it on a cover.

Hey guys,

I want to show you a mechanic that will help DMs make the world of a campaign feel more alive as well as add replayability.

This homebrew mechanic is called: "Breath of Destiny" and it's based on a single d100 roll. The purpose of it is to introduce a bit of lifelike randomness mimicking what a divinity read can be (in a super simple version).

The idea came to me after playing the same 1-session campaign with several groups. Some of them were lucky, others hapless in encounters, and I thought, it could be great to see this kind of "fate" introduced as a mechanic.

So, it works like this: at the start of the campaign the DM has to roll a d100. The result is kept for the entire duration of the campaign and will reconfigure the environment, narrative stakes and/or NPC behavior.

Your result will fall into 5 types of configuration, distributed as follows, from least favorable to most desirable: 1 - 20: Worst, 21 - 40: Bad, 41 - 60: Neutral, 61 - 80: Good, 81 - 100: Great.

Let me explain better with an example, and set the scene a little:

The main goal of the campaign is to reach a ruined castle towering over a small mountain village. It's snowing over the mountain pass, and the valley is trapped by a white blizzard. After some time in the village, the group should be on their way to the cliff and the castle. There, hungry wolves will attack the group. If you roll between 81–100, the blizzard will instead start to fade, clearer skies will appear and no wolves will be on the path (they now can hunt outside the valley, and will choose easier prey as a result). Other interactions include the blizzard strengthening and dealing frost damage. A group of inexperienced bandits hidden in the castle will or will not see you approach, setting traps, etc.

All of that will be invisible to the players, it's only for the pleasure and discretion of the GM.

Do you think it's a nice world reactivity addition for the too often overlooked and overworked GMs?

Hey Reddit,

total crowdfunding newbie here, looking for some help from the community.

I’ve spent the last year obsessively writing a dark fantasy campaign trilogy for 5e. The story’s done, fully playtested, proofread, and I just hired an illustrator to start bringing the world to life. It’s finally starting to feel real.

But I’m now hitting a wall.

I keep reading that the battle’s won before you even launch, but I’m honestly stuck on the “Day 0” strategy. My project is aimed at newcomers to the hobby, both DMs and players alike. I have a homebrew mechanic called "breath of destiny" (one d100 roll that reshapes the narrative a bit every session), so it can add replayability for DMs.

Some days it feels like shouting into the void, and I'd really appreciate any advice.

For those of you who’ve funded a game, or crashed and burned trying:

1. How long did you actually spend building a pre-launch community? I’ve heard 3–6 months. Does that hold for small indie projects too?
2. Email list vs. Kickstarter “coming soon” page, which one truly drives day-one momentum?
3. What’s one thing you did that genuinely kept people engaged during the quiet weeks?

I’m trying not to just hit “launch” and pray, so I’d love to hear what logistical surprises caught you off guard.

I would love to read your story and wisdom!