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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:

Fri Sep 6 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 06, 2019 at 05:08:02 AM

It’s day 3 and we’re only a few hundred dollars away from being 50% funded! I’m excited, Harp’s excited, everyone involved is excited! That said, we need to build on this momentum and keep on, keeping on. We’ve talked quite a bit about Harper and Friends of Kids with Cancer, but we actually haven’t talked much about Harper’s Tale itself.

Harper’s Tale is a series of 10 linked adventures in which the heroes (a fitting term for a group of brave folks banding together to save their friends and neighbors) investigate, thwart, and prevent the continued machinations of an unknown antagonist. The adventurers start at level 1 and end at level 10. Each adventure is intended to run in one evening, about 4 hours, at the end of which the PCs level up (we use milestone level to keep the book keeping down).

There are also two distinct plot lines than can be followed by the players. It can be played as a straight-forward series of quests to be completed leading you to the ending. Should they choose to look a little deeper they come to realize the motivations behind antagonists’ actions, and are in a position to save not just the forest but E'thor as well.

The adventure is appropriate for younger children, but in no way has it been simplified or “dumbed down” (I really don’t like that phrase). The themes explored, the imagery, and references integrated into adventures can be enjoyed just as must by adults and teens as they can younger kiddos. Encounters can be solved through role-playing, investigation, clever planning, or straightforward conflict. There will be urban investigation, dungeon crawling, forest exploration, political plots, and dangerous caves to delve within. We have all your bases covered!!

Thank you!

Matt, Harper, and team

Wed Sep 4 '19 Announcement
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 04, 2019 at 05:39:17 AM

Our first day is in the books and it was a rousing success!! Over $2,500 raised, 61 backers, and  20+ books guaranteed to be delivered. In my excitement to bring this campaign to you, I didn’t do as good of a job as I could have tooting the horns of the creators involved, and giving all of you piece of mind that the once funded the book will delivered on time and with the quality you would expect from any professional publisher.

The team gathered has been involved in over a dozen successful crowdfunding campaigns and large-scale publishing projects. The creators involved are some of the best in the field. Over the next few weeks I’ll be discussing their accolades in more depth, but for now here’s a blurp, taken from the (new updated) landing page.

Meet the Team.

Harper’s Tale is much more than a story about hope and adventure. It’s more than an opportunity to help kids just be kids. It’s also about inclusivity and hearing the voices of those who aren’t heard often enough. To bring those perspectives we have a team of old pros – Brian Suskind and Ben McFarland have literally dozens of titles, multiple ENnie awards, and have worked with publishers such as Kobold Press, Rite Publishing, Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, Atlas Games, and Storm Bunny Studios; there’s also MT Black, a guild adept with more titles than I can list whose work appears in official Wizards of the Coast products.

Joining these seasoned writers are some new(ish) faces. Myself (author/lead developer for Kobold Press, Petersen Games, Infinity Black, Chaosium, and owner of Saturday Morning Scenarios), Donathin Frye (Encounter Roleplay, Saturday Morning Scenarios, Petersen Games, Mage Hand Press, and Modiphius), and Jeff Stevens (DMsGuild bestseller & creator of Savage Encounters series).

But most exciting of all are the folks that are going to carry us all forward for years to come. Ashley Warren (the amazing Uncaged Anthologies and DnD Beyond among other things), Kienna Shaw (Salty Sweet Games), and Bill Barnett (Infinite Black), and Hannah Rose (Wizards of the Coast, DMsGuild, and Kobold Press). Rounding out our team are Gwendy Bee and Anna Landin whose amazing art is on display on this page, and our editors (Jess, and Craig Judd) and Layout (Craig again).

Getting the Word Out.

As you may know an IndieGoGo campaign doesn't quite have the reach of KS, but with your help we'll smash our goals and help Friends of Kids with Cancer. Here are a few ways you can help:

  • Share the campaign far and wide on your social media outlets.
  • Comment on the campaign. Tell us your story!
  • If you have access to outlets such as podcasts or blogs let me know and we'll send a media packet or chat about the project.
  • Talk about it with anyone and everyone. We've all been touched by cancer and word of mouth is so important.

    Thank you!

    Matt, Harper, and the entire team