On Kickstarter, there’s a new RPG setting that’s based on Robert E. Howard’s pulp fantasy novels, Thurian Adventures. Using 5e and Pathfinder as its engine, this setting expands on Howard’s world. Created by two former game store owners, this setting promises a great deal of adventure. I spoke with Evan Erskine about the project, what they’re making, and why they’re creating it.
UPDATE 2021-12-02: This Kickstarter campaign has been canceled. Here’s the update that announced this:
“Due to questions of legal rights, which we fully expect to answer in a positive manner, we believe it is necessary to suspend this current Kickstarter. We appreciate the support we have gotten and hope to re-engage everyone soon. We apologize for this slight bump in the road, but we promise to return in 2022 with great products for the RPG family.”
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thanks for reaching out, I’m looking forward to talking with you about your project. First off, what is Thurian Adventures: Cimmeria?
EVAN ERSKINE (EVAN): Thurian Adventures is a campaign world inspired by Robert E. Howard. The first kingdom guide we are publishing is Cimmeria. Every kingdom will include a Player’s Guide covering the information that players can discover easily while journeying through the land such as local myths and legends, flora and fauna, geography and information about the local peoples. The Game Master’s Guide will include much more in-depth and user-friendly information about the kingdom and additional things such as monster and NPC stats, adventure location maps, and the actual truth behind the myths and legends that the players have heard about while exploring the lands.
EGG: Let’s drill into the books a bit, what creations are you funding in this campaign?
EVAN: We will be offering the Player’s Guide to Cimmeria, the Game Master’s Guide to Cimmeria, a Map of Cimmeria, a 3rd Level Adventure: Foray into Pictland and a 5th Level Adventure: Escape from Hyperborea. Both adventures were played at Origins this year and the excitement and feedback was very encouraging.
We are also doing something we think will be fun. We have found an awesome artist, Jackson dos Reis, who specializes in taking photos of people and turning them into fantasy characters. We will be offering the ability to send in your picture and have a personalized Non-Player Character created based on your photo. A Heroes Gallery for Thuria will also be published containing the NPC’s created for our supporters.
EGG: This is not related to Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of Roleplaying Game from Mōdiphiüs Entertainment, but a separate RPG. We talked a little before this article and you mentioned your bid for the property. Can you talk about your history with Conan?
EVAN: Conan and Hyboria are trademarks and heavily defended. Iron Tower Publishing has no intention of encroaching on those trademarks. Thurian Adventures is a completely independent RPG. We are making our campaign setting for use with 5E and Pathfinder 1st Edition game systems. Mōdiphiüs’ game uses their own 2D20 game system.
Ryan (co-owner) and I have been Robert E. Howard fans for over 40 years. We are now creating the Thurian World inspired by the original published stories from Robert E. Howard. We are hoping to create a playable world as Howard would have envisioned it.
EGG: This is Robert E. Howard’s universe one hundred and fifty years later, correct? Can you give us a quick snapshot of what the world is like in your version?
EVAN: Robert E. Howard wrote an essay for his world called “The Hyborian Age” and it was published in two parts. In this work, Howard develops a history for the Thurian continent. His published stories of Conan all happen at the end of Part I.
We are setting our story about 150 years later. The reign of the Barbarian Kings in Aquilonia has ended in bloodshed. King Titanicus has seized the throne and his ambitions for world dominance have begun. This historic period encompasses the rise of The Golden Empires and sets in motion the events of “The Hyborian Age, Part II.”
EGG: Why both 5e and Pathfinder 1st Editions?
EVAN: The simple answer is that we want to bring this incredible world, that literally started the entire Sword and Sorcery genre, to as many people as possible. We wanted to focus on the campaign setting and not our own rule system. We also wanted our product to be playable right after purchase with the most popular game systems that people are already familiar with. Most people who play fantasy role playing games play either 5E or Pathfinder, or both. With Pathfinder, we decided to focus on 1st Edition with the belief that those players would be most interested in third party content.
EGG: How many pages? Are you offering any extras like dice or miniatures? What stretch goals are you excited to fund?
EVAN: The complete set of artwork and the final layouts of the Player’s and Game Master’s Guides are not done, but we are anticipating books between 150 – 200 pages. We have Stretch Goals which include a 1st Level Adventure in Cimmeria, a Map of Thuria, and a Gazetteer for Thuria. We are very excited about the last two products as they will contain valuable information that will allow game masters and players to adventure through all the kingdoms of Thuria. We have decided not to include dice and miniatures for this first Kickstarter but, we do believe both could be great additions in the future.
EGG: Who is working on this project?
EVAN: The main Game Designers are Ryan and myself. We have a group of fantastic artists contributing to the project: Alvaro Calvo Escudero, Elias Stern, John Ric Detoon, Chalky Nan and Jackson dos Reis. And we have several support staff – Sarah Melnyk, Kathy Dupont, Jeff Riegle, Stacy Stevens and Jeffry Olson. And our video and animation team from Mulitmediaone. It takes a village.
EGG: This is not your first time working in gaming. Can you share some of your history and what else you’ve done in the tabletop gaming space?
EVAN: Beyond our 40+ years of playing RPG’s, we did own and operate several retail stores from 1992 – 2000 focused entirely on gaming products. We have a great deal of experience in game promotions, sales and marketing.
EGG: As former friendly local game store (FLGS) retailers, are you designing this product with retailers in mind?
EVAN: We are planning on selling our product in limited places to try and help the FLGS. We will not mass market our products, no Walmart or Barnes & Nobles. We plan to sell our products through our own web store fronts, DriveThruRPG, etc. In this way, we can keep the pricing consistent with the pricing FLGS can sell our product.
Our future plans also include a Thurian Heroes program to promote play of our products in local game stores. One of the things that Paizo did very well at, was their Pathfinder Society program. It helped Paizo and it helped the FLGS and we hope to start a similar program for Thurian Adventures products.
EGG: That’s a good move. Beyond Thurian Adventures: Cimmeria, what else are you working on?
EVAN: As you can imagine all of our time right now is going into support of our Thurian Adventures: Cimmeria Kickstarter. But in general, we are also working on a Thurian Adventure Path for Cimmeria and the next kingdom – Thurian Adventures: Hyperborea.
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. Where can fans learn more about you and this project?
EVAN: Our company website and people can reach on Facebook.
People can also check out our website and join our referral program to earn free Thurian Adventure products by helping us spread the word for our Kickstarter campaign.
Thurian Adventures: Cimmeria from Iron Tower Publishing, LLC
End Date: Sat, January 1 2022 6:00 PM EST.
“TTRPG Fantasy Campaign Setting inspired by the works of Robert E. Howard. Playable with 5E and Pathfinder 1st Ed Game Systems.”
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.
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