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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:

Sun Feb 2 '20 Announcement
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 02, 2020 at 07:36:20 AM

We're starting the day with celebratory donuts! And then she's off to a Super Bowl party her mom later this afternoon. The last 365 days have been very tough, but we're getting through it. With her amazing strength, the help of our friends and family (that includes all of you by the way), and the best oncologists in the country.

A quick update on the book. We're chugging along and nearing the finish line for the content portion, and a friend has graciously agreed to come onboard to help me with the finishing touches.

Thank you,

Matt, Harper, and the Harper's Tale team :)

 

Wed Jan 1 '20 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Wed, Jan 01, 2020 at 11:57:08 AM

Milestone to Bring in 2020

  • All the art is in!!
  • 90% of the content is written!!
  • 50% of the content is edited!!
  • Harper's Tale has generated >$7,000 in donations to Friends of Kids (we're not close to done btw)!!!!

Here is backer funded art of three very special kiddos. Out of respect for their families I can't share their stories, but I can say that each of these children are inspirations to everyone lucky enough to know them.

Mighty Quinn Quickfoot

Laughing Luca Lookingglass

 

Bubbly Bri Brighteyes

 

Here's to a happy and healthly 2020!

Matt, Harper, and team

Thu Dec 5 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 12:07:44 PM

Another quick update on Harper's Tale.

The Book

Craig is doing a phenomenal job with layout! It looks so good!!

Donations

Harper's Tale will be generating donations for Friends of Kids with Cancer in both 2019 and 2020. The donations that myself and the rest of the team have sent to Friends of Kids this year total in excess of $7,000!! But we are not done! Far from it.

In 2020 I will pay the remaining expenses, printing the books for Friends of Kids is the big one, and donate the remainder to Friends of Kids. We're on pace to generate a total donation of over $10,000!!

Pre-orders are for another 5 months too! So let's get that number up!!!

What Can This Do?

In recent letter from Friends of Kids with Cancer they gave us real world examples of what our donations do for the kids.

$10 buys a toy for a patient

$60 provides educational tutoring sessions for kids to keep up in school

$90 brings group counseling session for patients, siblings, and caregivers

$200 delivers daily gifts to the kids and an end of treatment celebration for patients recieving radation therapy.

I still get overwhelmed when I talk about this project and what it means to me, Harper, our team, our friends, our family, and Friends of Kids.

We wish you the happiest of holidays, and thank you for providing a great holiday for kids in need.

Matt

Wed Nov 27 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 08:02:46 AM

Happy (almost) Turkey Day!!

We are sailing along with the adventures and I wanted to share some of the fantastic backer funding art that Kayla Cline is working on.

Two things for before going.

1. We are still accepting pre-orders via backerkit. Please share this link far and wide. We've raised an additional $480 via Backerkit and I'd love to see us double or triple that before release. Pre-orders will remain open until March at this link:

https://harper-s-tale-an-adventure-path-for-dnd-5e.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

2. I have 42 people that haven't had a chance to fill in their survey. I really need those, even if we're communicating via other channels or directly. The surveys are crucial for tracking and fullfillment. I just sent reminders so please check your inbox and spam.

Thanks!!

Matt, Harper, and team

Thu Nov 14 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 01:01:32 PM

Another amazing piece by the fantastically talented Anna Landin to remind us of Spring! Harp, Lilly, and I are mostly staying warm in St Louis, and we hope you all are too!

A lot of activity going on behind the scenes. And I'll bore you all with the details, you're warned there are numbers ahead....

An additional $1,250 has been donated to Friends of Kids with Cancer. Bringing our running total to $4,250. Donations will be incremental as work is completed and funds are dispersed.

I've gotten a quote for the books that I'll be having shipped to me and delivered by me and Harp to Friends of Kids. They came in less than expected, which will defray the shipping and taxes involved in printing them.

All but 6 art briefs have been sent, which represent 90% completion. We're making great progress with the art. In addition to Anna, Kayla Cline, and Gwendy Bee are taking the bulk of the load with some help with a few others who're completing special projects.

Three adventures are finished, editing, and going to layout. Two more are in editing, and the remaining are on track too. Great work here with everyone one involved.

Last but not least Richard Whitters, art director at Wizards of the Coast created a character sheet just for us! You can download it HERE.

Thank you all for your patience and support.

Matt

PS. As some of you know much of my writing is actually in horror gaming, if you're interested in that sort of thing and want to learn more about my next release, Whispers in the Dark: Investigative Horror in Gaslight Era New Orleans please follow this link.