About this project
Sig: The City Between
CA$ 9,888
308
There is only one true city; a place of multiversal trade, cultural exchange, and mixed blood. A place where monsters come to scheme and gods come to die.
Sig: The City Between is the nexus of the multiverse. It's a city connected to everywhere, a refuge for the oppressed and a prize for tyrants. It's a place where culture is at the forefront, with diverse faiths and tongues struggling for space in the crowded metropolis. It's a city of families, both whole and broken.
Sig is also a launching point, allowing fools and heroes to venture into the eternal planes of existence. Each plane is made of concepts, of elements, or of ideals that resonate through the entire 'verse. The planes impose their own Beliefs on Sig, and on the infinite primal worlds beyond.
Each of the planes is also home to unique peoples, from the Giants of the Elemental Plane of Stone to the Wyrms of the Ideological Plane of Destruction. The planes are home to mighty Powers; gods, demons, and stranger things which send their servitors to spread their faith into the City Between. The planes even offer resources to the bickering political Factions and warring guilds that control Sig's hungry streets.
Visit the Elemental Plane of Flame to test yourself in scorched wastelands of the Crucible. Seek answers to hidden secrets in the Umbral Delta of the Conceptual Plane of Shadow. Defend yourself in The Final Court, where the Seven Magistrates provide final remedy to any injustice.
This campaign is to fund Sig, a new setting and expansion for the Spark RPG. The book presents a vibrant multiverse that is intentionally designed to work well with the Spark RPG system. For that reason, there are a number of reward tiers that include a copy of the Spark RPG.
What is the Spark Roleplaying Game?
The Spark RPG was kickstarted successfully in 2013. It’s a game about collaborating with friends to build fascinating and engaging worlds. It’s a game about facing your Beliefs, both the evidence against them and the facts that bolster them. It’s a game where questions of philosophy and personal ideologies are at the forefront, and where anyone can make a difference.
If you want a bit more information about the Spark RPG, there is plenty of information over on the Kickstarter page. It’s a rather robust narrative game system, which is a Silver-ranked best seller on DriveThruRPG.com.
What's New for Spark?
Since the Spark RPG was first released in 2013, there has been a lot of play and experimentation. That experience led to some overall system improvements offered in Sig, yet could serve any setting. These include:
Interlude Scenes, small moments of calm and introspection, in contrast to the high-stakes of conflict-driven scenes.
Refined Attributes of Smoke and Spark that streamline play to focus on what matters.
Webs of Connections, creating key NPCs which bind the group together and encourage family-based drama.
The book also presents a number of new mechanics which represent the diversity of a multiverse. Moreover, they show how the underlying system can be modified to suit different kinds of stories.
Heritages, describing cultures and peoples through the use of culturally-relevant Talents.
Factions and Guilds, each providing some obligation to their community and some leverage that their members can wield.
Powers and Servitors, providing characters with options for serving supernatural beings and following their religious devotions. In turn, they are offered supernatural rituals and the ability to petition for miracles from their patrons.
Each kickstarter campaign has different goals. For the Spark RPG, I wanted to create my first professional-quality RPG and establish an audience for my future work. For Posthuman Pathways, I wanted to experiment with form and share a more unorthodox design.
The Hardcopy
Once you have taken a look at the book, you may be interested in getting a colourful physical copy. I am happy to oblige, and am funding a small print-run of the book.
The physical books are 6"x9" in size, 112 pages long. It will be printed full-colour, on 80# glossy paper for the interiors. This means that the pages will look and feel like a professionally printed magazine. The setting is vibrant, diverse, and beautiful, so I wanted the book to match.
I will send these books to press as soon as the Kickstarter campaign ends and I know how many copies to print. The goal is to have these books sent out by the end of the year.
I am excited about sharing this setting broadly, which means that I have a number of stretch goals that will lead to additional content. None of this is going in the book itself, but will rather be made available separately when each component is completed.
Many of these stretch goals allow me to hire some fantastic writers/designers to explore some new Prime Worlds. These travellers will return this crucial information to Sig, and we will share them with you. These manuscripts will tend to be about a thousand words, and shall be delivered in intangible (PDF) form. These stretch goals are measured in numbers of backers, so tell your friends to stop on by!
Currently Funded:
At 325 Backers....
Every creative project is inspired by works that came before, and this is certainly no exception. Here are some of the more significant inspirations that led to this book.
This is the biggest inspiration for Sig, by a wide margin. In some ways, this setting is the reason why I got into game design. It describes a cosmopolitan fantasy city in the middle of the D&D multiverse. Any place that's home to philosophers with clubs is good in my books. Check out this mind-blowing original setting, beautifully illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, now on DriveThruRPG.
A comic set in a space-fantasy setting, focusing on the importance of family, relationships, childhood, and parenthood. It’s a wild tale of distinctive (odd) cultures and social commentary, and one that will bring a tear to your eye. You can find it at Image Comics.
Jonathan did a fantastic job of interpreting the Planescape setting through the lens of cultural diversity in the multiplanar melting-pot city of Dis, which is literally assimilating the rest of the universe. Freebooters, heritage moves, and all sorts of other goodies abound in this fantastic supplement for Dungeon World. This is available as a free download at DrivethruRPG.com.
This is a fantastical and mythologically rich comic that reveals the city of Throne, Domain of Kings, Kingdom of God, and center of the Omniverse. Demon-kingdoms and mystic orders fighting on the fossilized bodies of the massive angels. This will absolutely captivate you and you can check it out at http://killsixbilliondemons.com/
And many more: Projects including Polaris, Mythender, Don’t Rest your Head, and the Korad writing project also contributed to the richness of the 'verse.
Jason Pitre is the game designer and owner of Genesis of Legend Publishing. He has successfully published the Spark RPG in early 2013 and the ENnie-Award winning Posthuman Pathways in 2014. He has also written for companies such as Pelgrane Press, Dangerous Games, Evil Hat Productions, and Greenhat Designs.
Jeremy Morgan is an editor extraordinaire who has worked on projects including Bulldogs (Fate Core Edition), Headspace and the forthcoming Noir World. This project wouldn't have been possible without his enthusiasm.
Julie Dillon is a freelance sci-fi and fantasy illustrator. She has won two Hugo Awards, two Chesley Awards, and has been nominated for two World Fantasy Awards for her work. Her clients have included Tor Books, Penguin Books, Simon & Schuster, Popular Science Magazine, Wizards of the Coast, Llewelleyn Worldwide, and Paizo Publishing.
Ève Corbin is my copy editor, whose keen eye has spotted some elusive of errors in the text. Her help has been invaluable in honing the text for clarity.
Elizabeth Bauman is an indexer, a mom, a gamer a copywriter and the managing editor for @TheIlluminerdy. She made the index for Sig; a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age
Moustafa Chamli, a Lebanese-born multi-disciplinary artist, is the head of his own video game development studio. He has provided a number of evocative inked pieces that show Sig and the 'verse on a whole. He is self-taught and has a love for functionally elaborate designs that tell their own stories. He is currently working on his first large-scale video game.
Nathan D. Paoletta is an independent game designer, publisher and graphic artist living in Chicago, IL. Nathan has produced the various icons the represent the various planes of existence. You can see his work at ndpdesign.com and his hot takes on professional wrestling on twitter, @ndpaoletta.
Contact Me
I’m happy to answer any questions. Please feel free to ask them in the comments and I will do my best to give you answers as quickly as possible.
I’m also available on Twitter under the name of @Genesisoflegend, where I am watching for any discussion at the hashtag of #WelcomeToSig .
You can also get in touch with me at genesisoflegend@gmail.com, or check out the website at www.genesisoflegend.com.
Risks and challenges
This isn't my first Kickstarter campaign by a long shot. I am happy to report that in addition to backing well over two hundred projects myself, I have also run two successful campaigns in the past years: the Spark Roleplaying Game (2013) and ENnie-award winning Posthuman Pathways (2014). Those kickstarter campaigns successfully delivered all of the rewards to backers on time in both cases.
Almost all of the work is done for Sig at this point. The electronic version of the game is complete and ready to go to press. This Kickstarter is just trying to raise interest in the game, then to print & ship out copies.If we have enough backers, we aim to produce digital-only stretch goal rewards that won't interfere with delivering the main book.
There may be challenges with the printers. I am currently planning on using the very professional and experienced printer but I have several backup options, just in case.
Anything that goes through the mail system can go astray, but I will replace any missing copies at no cost.
The most significant risk associated with this project is currency fluctuation. This project is set in Canadian Dollars, but the majority of the backers will be paying in other currencies. I have no way of predicting the accurate exchange rate at the end of the campaign but I will cover off any budgetary shortfalls that might occur.
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Funding period
- (30 days)