A fantasy adventure about food, community, and spaghetti wizards for 5th edition.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Backerkit, BBQ, and CHEW
about 3 years ago
– Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 11:03:35 PM
Strap in folks.
We’ve a lot on the agenda today, so this is gonna be a chonky slice of correspondence.
Here’s a quick summary of what we’ve got going on in case you want to skip around:
BackerKit & Surveys
Shipping
BBQ Paladin Subclass
Subclasses Update
Spooky Season Free Content
CHEW: The Roleplaying Game
Backerkit
After defeating the eldritch beast known as “Math,” we’ve officially opened the Fat Magic BackerKit store.
For a limited time, folks who missed the Kickstarter can head to FatMagicRPG.com and grab themselves a copy of the book and some of our tasty add-ons.
That also means your pledge surveys are ready to go out! We’ll be running a smoke test today, which sends out a survey to a small percentage of the backers to make sure everything is running smoothly.
A small number of you will receive your survey today. And as long as nothing explodes, the rest of you will be getting your survey shortly after.
Shipping
We’ve had to lock in our shipping rates and international rates are still high due to a pandemic grinding the entire industry to a halt.
We had hoped to see some relief by now, but it looks like this isn’t going away soon and we can’t hold off any longer.
It breaks our hearts that the costs of international shipping demand we charge this much just to ship folks their book, and we are so sorry that these uncommonly crappy circumstances are disproportionately affecting our supporters outside of the US.
Shipping is calculated by the weight and size of the package. Based on these factors, all pledge levels fall into one of two pricing categories: the Meal Deal and all other pledges that include physical rewards.
Some countries, like Australia and Ireland, are experiencing additional strain and are listed separately.
Meal Deal
Local Pickup $0
United States $11
Canada $20
Europe $41
Ireland $45
Australia $48
Everywhere Else $42.50
All Other Pledges
Local Pickup $0
United States $13
Canada $23
Europe $49
Ireland $49
Australia $61
Everywhere Else $50
If anyone wants to take advantage of local pickup, we are based in Baltimore, Maryland!
BBQ Paladin
This month we released our biggest subclass yet, the Oath of the BBQ Paladin. This was a huge team effort and I could not be more proud of the folks who worked on this.
Elijah Forbes (@paintedturtleco) wrote the beautiful flavor text. Lex Kim Bobrow (@titanomachyrpg) designed the massive suite of mechanics. Stefan Huddlestone (@StefanHuddlest1) provided sensitivity reading. The BBQ Knight and spirit were illustrated by Carlos Sánchez Polo (@cspstuff), and the campfire illustration is by Elijah.
The Oath of the BBQ Paladin pays tribute to the contributions of Black and Indigenous chefs to the art of BBQ. A lot of love and care went into its creation and I think it shows.
With the BBQ Paladin finished, we’re moving swiftly on to the Way of the Fermented Grain Monk subclass.
This boozy subclass is hardy, boisterous, and reckless to a fault. The Way of the Fermented Grain Monk lives by a code of simplicity, hospitality, and self-sustainability. They believe that brewing beer should be for sustaining life and supporting the community, never for the profit of the brewer.
As a special treat, here’s an exclusive look at the joyful art created by Diansakhu (@diansakhuart) for the subclass.
The Way of the Fermented Grain Monk will include mechanics for monks who choose the path of sobriety.
In the next few weeks, we’ll also be polishing up the copy and design of the released subclasses and re-releasing them.
Spooky Season Free Content
In celebration of the birthday of the Great Skeleton in the Sky, we’ll be releasing some seasonally appropriate spoooooky content.
First up is a magic item designed by the legendary Matthew and Fernando of Abyssal Brews (@abyssalbrews), dropping like a hot cup of [SPOILER] this Tuesday.
This one’s for my basic b-words.
Towards the end of the week, we’ll be releasing a full Halloween one-shot, written by game designer El Haney. This is one of the weirdest little one-shots I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to share it with y’all.
Nobody is ready for The Night of the Living Bread.
CHEW: The Roleplaying Game
Before I go, I’d like to do a special shout-out to fellow food RPG CHEW: The Roleplaying Game, a Forged in the Dark crime drama based on the hit comic book.
The head writer, Mitch Wallace, helped us newbies navigate the doldrums of our first Kickstarter and asked for nothing in return.
He’s put a lot of love and sweat into this game and you absolutely need to check it out:
Based on the award-winning Image comic books and Forged in the Dark rules, play quirky FDA agents as they police egg dealers, chicken traffickers, and food-powered criminals in a clucked up world! You know you need Bucket of Chicken Dice...
It's zany, it's dark, and it's all kinds of fun! Remember, Chicken is DOOM!
Sweet Moments by the Firelight
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Sep 20, 2021 at 10:49:35 PM
Hey there, folks!
It’s been a busy few weeks in the world of Fat Magic.
We’ve been commissioning piles of new art, working on collabs with new designers and writers, and cooking up a fat stack of free content for y’all.
There’s more on that below. But let’s get the housekeeping out of the way first.
The BackerKit pre-order store is almost ready to go. We just need to lock down the weight of one final item later this week and then we’re cutting the ribbon. Once it’s up, you will all be receiving your backer surveys, where you can tell us all about the size of your t-shirts and your permanent addresses
Once we have the weight and size of all our add-ons, we’ll also have more clarity on shipping costs, which I’ll share with you in the traditional clarity-sharing ritual (wear shoes that can get wet).
In bad news with good consequences, we received a prototype of the dice tower earlier this month and, unfortunately, I was not happy with the quality. Our production manager, the mysterious shadow who asked not to be named, is exploring better quality materials for the dice tower.
The new dice tower will probably be more expensive to make, so we may adjust the price in the preorder store, but backers of the Kickstarter won’t pay any additional costs.
The last itty bitty production update is that we have confirmed the Rad Vibes t-shirts will be available up to 6XL!
Fun Stuff
Ok, I’m taking off my business tank top and putting on my fun crop top.
We have two playtest subclasses in the works, the BBQ paladin and the Toastmaster bard. Both are designed by the wonderful @titanomachyRPG.
We’ll be releasing these very soon. I’m just waiting on the art for one and we’re consulting with a sensitivity reader on the other. (Editor’s note: If you think the FM subclasses are wild, you should check out the parade of cursed, bizarre, and buck-wild subclasses on Titanomachy’s Twitter.)
We’ll be spicing things up this month with a new player race and boss encounter designed in collaboration with @PFizzlebang. Pip specializes in spicier monsters with smarter strategies, so make sure your players are ready for some heat.
I haven’t revealed this on Twitter yet, but the new player race will be the Habgoblin, a spicy variety of the hobgoblin from the Habanero Spice Flats.
The Habgoblin’s digestive system has evolved to include a series of interlocking chambers filled with smoke and spice. The tendrils of smoke you often see coiling from their nostrils are a tool for subtle communication. The first thing Habgoblin parents teach their children are the signals for “love,” “joy,” and “danger.” The spice in their belly is the weapon used to protect themselves from that danger.
Habgoblin culture is steeped in a rich history of storytelling and community spirit. Traditions emphasize love and passion above all. While their literature tells tales of heroes with “bellies of spice” and “hearts of fire.” Heroes in Habgoblin stories love deeply and honestly, fight for those who can’t fight for themselves, and die on their feet puffing defiant clouds of black smoke.
Here’s a sneak peek at an early sketch by @CSPstuff.
Folks who can’t wait to play the game will be glad to know that we’ve got two one-shots in the late stage of development!
The Hamburger Heist by @100thingsilove will task your party to infiltrate the Duke's candlelight supper and steal his secret burger recipe. In our spooky Halloween One-Shot, you and your party will… Well, maybe I’ll tell you about that soon.
For now, I’ll leave you with a sweet moment shared between two of the food truck folk of the Sopressata, illustrated by @paintedturtleco.
Cheers,
SC Ormond
BackerKit & Beyond
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 17, 2021 at 12:23:51 AM
Hello old friends!
It feels like an age since we’ve been able to sit around the fire and chew the fat. One particular piece of fat in much need of chewing is the hunk of gristle that landed in our bank accounts this morning.
As of 11:26 am, we have officially secured the funds from Kickstarter! And as soon as I hit send on this email, I’m pulling the trigger on a whole bunch of new & shiny art for our book. (Keep your eyes on your email for sneak previews.)
The next step for us is setting up a BackerKit store, where you’ll be able to track your pledges and folks who missed out on the Kickstarter can get in on the action. We’re in the final stages of setting up shop, so expect an email from me saying Fat Mart is open for business any day now.
EAT FRESH SUBCLASSES
Finally, I’ve got some piping hot playtest material fresh out of the Lex Kim Bobrow for you. You didn’t think I’s show up in your inbox without some tasty content for you, didja?
Introducing the iconic, very marketable, and always fun to say: Spaghetti Wizard!
The pastamancers of the Order of the Salted Pot do not lack for confidence. They believe that all problems great and small can be rectified by the one true carb, AKA the al dente gift from the Great Grandma. It’s simply a matter of finding the right pasta for the job.
Keep it al dente,
SC
200% Funded, Love & Gratitude
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 10:12:27 PM
Hello,
It’s me. The tired and happy man.
The Fat Magic Kickstarter is officially over. The final count was 733 backers pledging $40,416.33.
As numbers go, I think those are some pretty darn good numbers.
I’m going to keep this one super brief, folks. The team and I are going to take a few days off and then we’ll be launching on BackerKit to manage your pledges.
The year ahead is going to be super busy. There’s lots to do before we ship all your cool stuff to you. And there’s going to be lots of cool Fat Magic content for you to enjoy in the meantime, including one-shots, new subclasses, new art, streams, and pictures of my dog.
I’m going to take the day to bask in the immense gratitude I have for each and every one of you, eat a big sandwich, and play a bunch of video games.
Before I do, I want to extend a huge thank you to my dear friends, the first Fat Magic players, without whom this whole thing would not have been possible.
To Zach and Rebecca, who cheerlead, support, market, feed and love selflessly.
To El, whose devastating wit forces me to write better villains and who has written some of the funniest and most beautiful sections of Fat Magic themself.
To my partner Morgan, whose love makes me brave and whose Fat Magic character made me want to be a better person.
And to Fat Magic Editor Hannah Tsiopannos. While I get to do all the fun stuff, Hannah has the unenviable task of keeping this wild ship on course.
She makes the spreadsheets. She forces me to think about the things I need to think about but don’t want to think about. And she masterfully walks the tightrope of preventing my silly writing from becoming too self-indulgent while allowing it to be just self-indulgent enough to be funny. As well as just about everything that keeps this project from going up in flames on a daily basis.
I owe so many people so much. But no matter how many folks join the Fat Magic family, we can always say that we played Fat Magic together.
And it was good.
SC
24 HOURS TO GO
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 03:11:13 PM
Hey folks!
What a trip! I can’t believe we’re just 24 hours from the end of the Kickstarter.
It’s been such a wild ride. I have been absolutely BLASTED by all your support. As I write this, with one day left to go, Fat Magic is $34,573 funded, with 610 backers.
Art by the one and only Kinley Raftery, featuring a sneak peek at a Hammerhead Sharkuterie.
That’s right, folks. We’ve unlocked EVERY SINGLE ONE of the community stretch goals including a BONUS subclass for the wizard, the Order of the Roasted Bean, which will be designed by Mitchell Wallace (Penny for a Tale)!
Fan favorites, including the Pact of the Celebrity Chef Warlock and Order of the Sweet Meat BBQ Paladin, have been added to the game. But the Pie Hard one-shot, the Way of the Fermented Grain Monk, and more are still within reach!
Last-Minute Additions
I’ll do a proper thank you to everyone after the Kickstarter has ended, but I wanted to do a quick shout-out to a few folks who joined our team towards the end of the Kickstarter.
Earlier this week, we released a special magic item made in collaboration with the incredible Shiny Press. It’s just a regular chef’s hat, so not much to talk about there.
Shiny’s magic items and monsters are some of the most creative 5e homebrew I’ve ever seen. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a sub to their Patreon.
Lex Kim Bobrow (@titanomachy) is designing subclasses for the book and doing a hell of a job of it. Two playtest versions of Lex’s off-the-wall Fat Magic subclasses are available to all backers right now. Subscribe to Lex’s Twitter for more of their hilarious and meticulously crafted subclasses.
Amber Logsdon (@thespacejamber) came aboard to write some ad copy for Fat Magic. So, if my tweets have been slightly less unhinged lately that’s because some are written by a professional. If you’re looking for a writer or editor on your next TTRPG project, look them up!
Finally (I think I can announce this), Thirsty Sword Lesbians’ Hannah Templeton will be joining us to illustrate one of Fat Magic’s MAJOR NPC’s. Keep an eye out for more info about that after the Kickstarter has ended.
Final Push
With less than a day left to go, this is your last chance to grab those addons at the Kickstarter prices. We’ll be opening a BackerKit pre-order store soon but, full transparency, we may tinker with prices on the pre-order site to accommodate BackerKit’s cut. So, If you have your eye on the Rad Vibes shirt or the Dice Tower, now is the time to act!
And, most importantly, I’m asking folks to help us get the word out one last time. We are comfortably funded right now, but I would love to put MORE art in the book and hire MORE folks in the indie RPG community to design MORE cool things for Fat Magic.
Any help you can give spreading the word in this final push would mean the world to me and the rest of the team. That said, regardless of what happens in the next 24 hours, you’re all incredible. If the counter stops and never moves again, I’ll still be the happiest person alive tomorrow.
