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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 Sep 25 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 25, 2019 at 05:24:26 AM

There haven't been too many updates lately, and for that I apologize. It's been a super busy week and I've been running in circles to catch up. We're within sight of $20,000!!! I can hardly believe it and Harper is pumped too!

Pedal the Cause is this weekend. Harp is team Powered by Hope's Ride for a Child. Pedal is an amazing organization that have raised millions of dollars for cancer research. Our team, Power by Hope, was created by an amazing lady, Teri, who's a walking inspiration to me, Harper, our family, and everyone fortunate enough to meet her.

In the pic above Harp is with another team captain, Colleen, after getting her brand new bike!

Back to the book! The second wave of art is coming in, and I'm gearing up for a big push via social media the last week of the campaign. We have a shot at being Friends of Kids with Cancer's top non-corporate fundraiser, we need to raise above $7,000 or so, and that would be amazing!

Thank you all!

Matt, Harper, and team

Sat Sep 21 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Sat, Sep 21, 2019 at 07:30:29 AM

Most of you have probably already heard me gush about Matt Lillard’s generosity and support for Harper’s Tale. He and his company, Beadle & Grimm’s, have promoted the project as much as I have and if you have a few moments please check them out.

The other person, who I’ve very nearly played a game of DnD with at GaryCon, is Joe Manganiello. Joe is a tireless supporter of DnD, and more importantly than that bringing the game to kids in hospitals. I saw this article a few weeks before Harper was diagnosed and it just reinforced my perception of Joe as a great human being.

As you can imagine I spent a lot of time in Harp’s room, reading entirely too many Tweets, but a tweet of that article popped up and in reading it the concept of Harper’s Tale crystalized even further and the idea of an adventure path and true fundraiser was born.

Selfishly I would love it if Joe saw this post, shared it, and helped us spread the word about the campaign, but more than that I’d like to say thank you to him (I’ve already embarrassed Matt with my effusive thanks) for nudging us in the right direction with his compassion and huge heart.

Matt

Fri Sep 20 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 12:15:55 PM

Early WIP by Gwendy B

We’re going strong and have exceeded $18,000 raised as I write this! I am amazed and humbled at the support. It really is blowing me away.

A few nuts and bolts of the project and where we are:

Adventures

The first two adventures are 95% complete! The next 8 are in various stages of creation. In this regard we are a bit ahead of schedule and the writers are knocking things out quickly now that funding has been assured.

Art

Of the originally planned art ~25% is complete. Art briefs have gone out on an additional 10 pieces of art and I’ve brought on two more artists to handle the art that was unlocked due to the generosity of our backers. Again, we’re in a really good place with art and all the artists are committed to an early completion.

Long story short, we’re about 3 weeks ahead of schedule due to getting funded so quickly. Generally these projects wait until completion and dispersing the funds, but our team wants to keep the project rolling and on time.

Last update, we’ve opened up the tiers again to purchase books to be delivered directly to Friends of Kids with Cancer!

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Matt

Thu Sep 19 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 08:25:30 AM

Do to the amazing and overwhelming support of the community we have exceeded all expectations on the number of books that we'd generate with this campaign!

I'm going to be discussing with the Friends of Kids with Cancer's leadership, and determine how best to keep our momentum and maximize the support you all are giving them.

If you'd like to buy a book for Friends of Kids I hope to have an update specifically for you tomorrow.

Thanks!

Matt

Thu Sep 19 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 06:54:16 AM

Three people have been with me from the very beginning of this project, and it wouldn’t be possible without them. They never wavered in their support, always had an encouraged word, and brought as much excitement and enthusiasm to this project as Harper and I. I am happy and honored to call all of them friend as well as colleague. We’ve all worked together in the past, and I’m sure we’ll continue to do so in the future. This really doesn’t tell the whole story of their involvement, but it’s a start.

I met Ben McFarland at a gaming convention. At the time I was completely unknown, working on Tale of the Margreve for Kobold Press, and more than a bit nervous about working on such an iconic book. Ben was at the KP booth and his was the next adventure I was going to be updating. I was more nervous than I let on, but he quickly put me at ease by being one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Ben is a talented, prolific, and award-winning designer with too many credits to list. He was the first pledge for my first self-published book. He was the first pledge for this book. I think that speaks volumes to his character and generosity.

Brian Suskind was (and is) an integral piece of the cohesiveness of our storyline. We sent countless emails, instant messages, and phone calls to make sure that the Harper’s story was developed into a full-length campaign. Brian, like Ben, has more credits than I can list and Ennie awards to his credit. His talents as a screenwriter, game designer, and author are on full display in Harper’s Tale and I couldn’t be prouder to have him on the team.

Donathin Frye and I met during my first crowding campaign, Lamp’s Light Sanitarium. It goes without saying that LL is a very different book that Harper’s Tale. Don was an integral piece in helping that book fund, and in getting it out to my backers on time while I was spending so much time at the hospital with Harper. He is a tireless and enthusiastic supporter then and now, his excitement is infectious, and his imagination fueled many of our discussions. This is a big year for Don with half a dozen products coming out via different means, and I’m so grateful he was able to join us in the journey.

Ben, Brian, and Don – thank you. Without you this would be languishing on my computer, and the good that we’re doing wouldn’t have made it out into the world, and that would have been a shame.

Matt