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Harper's Tale: A DnD 5e Adventure Path for heroes 1st thru 10th level

Created by Matt Corley

Harper's Tale is an epic story of sacrifice, perseverance, and redemption. The heroes will investigate, battle, and learn the true origins of the threat to their home. The adventure is based on an outline my daughter, Harper, and I wrote after coming home from the hospital after her first round of chemotherapy treatment for leukemia. All net proceeds from the crowdfunding campaign (including this BackerKit) will be donated to benefit Friends of Kids with Cancer to help others like Harper who are battling cancer. Joining Harper and I are an elite team of creators including: Jeff Stevens, Ben McFarland, Brian Suskind, Hannah Rose, Ashley Warren, Kienna Shaw, Bill Barnett, MT Black, Donathin Frye, Anna Landin, Gwendy B, Anna Meyer, Dyson Logos, Jessica Ross, and others! Kobold Press and Petersen Games also pitched in to us bring this to life. What is Harper's Tale? Harper’s Tale is a forest-based adventure path of 10 connected adventures culminating in the party, now 10th level, confronting the source of the plague within their home land. The adventure is intended for players as young as 10, but I promise players of all ages will find plenty to keep them engaged with the story. The adventure path starts in the village of Grove as the heroes come to a seemingly deserted village. Through exploration and investigation, they learn that a mysterious illness has taken over the town, leaving only two young women, Rose and Grace, to care for the populace. Their investigations take them under the town, and, in learning the source of the illness, they find themselves drawn into a much bigger plot by a mysterious force they know little about. What is clear is that the forest they call home is in danger, and the entity behind the illness of Grove has only just begun its foul machinations as evidenced by a sudden outbreak of madness in a neighboring town. A second outbreak is staved off by the heroes—surely they are best described as such after saving not one but two villages—and they find themselves traveling to see the arch-druid of the forest, Deng. The journey is arduous, but the clever adventurers comport themselves well, and learn much in their audience with the ancient druid, including the ingredients for fashioning a cure for the otherworldly contagion and, more importantly, the appropriate rites for harvesting the key components. Harvesting the cure is a greater challenge than the adventurers anticipated as they must deal with a cold war between the hidden powers of the forest in addition to gathering the ingredients in the dark recesses of the primordial wood. The adventure culminates in a confrontation with the creature whose machinations have been behind the debilitating disease wracking the forest. The heroes have learned much of their enemy, but have they learned all there is to know? How will they react when confronted with the source of so much pain and sorrow? Can it be defeated? Redeemed? Or will it win the day? There’s only one way to find out.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Wed Nov 11 '20 Announcement
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 08:44:08 AM

I wanted to touch base with everyone to give a quick update before the holidays are fully upon us. Harp and her sister are both back to in-person and couldn’t be more excited. It’s a little nerve wracking, but they’re doing great and the schools are doing a wonderful job too.

Back in September we participated in Pedal the Cause Inspired, and the 3 of us raised a little over $10,000 for cancer research. Afterwards Harper became involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as one of the kiddos they spotlighted for their virtual Light the Night event.

Between the support all of you gave us and a grant from Magellan Health (my employer) Harper’s Heroes raised nearly $25,000 to help those with this terrible disease. We have big plans for next year too of course ?

I’ll be participating in the 2021 Lavaman triathlon virtually (https://www.lavamantriathlon.com/) and raising money for LLS as part of that event. We have two other things planned that I’m going to save for the time being, but I can say I’m chuffed (to borrow a word from my British friends) about it and never in a million years expected to be part of something like it.

Anywho, I hope you are all doing well, staying safe, and taking care of you and yours. If you’re able to support LLS in whatever way you’re able we would truly appreciate it. Our fundraising page is here:

https://pages.lls.org/tnt/gat/lavatri21/MCorley

Thank you again,

Matt, Harper, and team

Fri Aug 7 '20 Announcement
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 07, 2020 at 10:25:46 AM

Harper the Brave. A young girl with sun kissed cheeks, in overalls and a flowing cape.

Thanks to the timely intervention of Matt Mercer, Felicia Day, and Liam O'Brien on Twitter last weekend, and the generous support of so many fans, we sold out of all the copies of Harper's Tale that Friends of Kids with Cancer had marked for additional fundraising.

And the timing couldn't be better. All of those have been shipped and the proceeds donated to Friends of Kids. That final push was nearly $3k in addition to previous funds.

This has been quite a trip and thank you all for coming along with us. We couldn't have done it without you!

Stay safe my friends!

Matt, Harper and team.

 

Wed Jun 10 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 08:44:08 AM

That's a Wrap!

POD Vouchers have been sent out via DriveThruRPG. Be sure to check you spam folders. Each POD backer will get two vouchers. One for the hardcover, premium color and one for the softcover color. They both look fantastic, and you can use either or both as you see fit.

The softcover gives you an option that's about 1/2 the price of the hardcover, and again it looks great (Harp's big sis actually prefers it).

I've been talking to Friends of Kids and they will be getting their books by end of month. They're all working from home so we need to coordinate schedules. They have also asked that I sell a portion of the books donated to them to generate additional donations for 2020. I will be doing that exclusively through my website.

If you know someone that would be interested in a copy of the FoK version (exact same content but with glossier paper, and autographed by Harp) have them follow me on Twitter and I'll annouce there when the store is ready. All proceeds from the FoK version will go directly to them.

Thank you!!!!

Matt, Harper, and the team

Sun Jun 7 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Sun, Jun 07, 2020 at 04:45:23 AM

One of the things we tried with Harper's Tale is an ePub format for the book. ePub (along with mobi) are the two more popular ebook formats and very few RPG books are published using those formats. I now have a better understanding of why :)

Long story short, a lot of the formatting, graphics, and layout that we take for granted with PDFs just doesn't translate well or easily to ebook. That said, Craig did a great job with it, and I'll be sending them to all backers this morning. I'm not sure if I'll release it commercially or not, only time will tell. I'm sending these via BackerKit.

And a shipping update! The books for Friends of Kids are in Missouri! They should be getting dropped off at my house this week, and I'll get them to Friends of Kids as as we're able. The POD proofs from DriveThruRPG are also in the mail, and barring any unforeseen issues will be be here in the next week too.

Thank you all and stay safe

Matt, Harper, and the team

Fri May 1 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 01, 2020 at 08:05:12 AM

Harp Celebrating

Short and sweet today!

The PDFs are done and I will be sending out a download to everyone in the next 24 hours. Please keep an eye on your spam folder and be looking for an email from DriveThruRPG.

This is the PDF only to allow all of you to let me know if I need to make any updates prior to setting up the print files.

As an aside Harper's Tale has also been submitted for consideration for an ENnie Award :)

Thank you!!!

Matt, Harper, and Team