Stories of the Free Lands is the first expansion for Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game. Stories from ten Indigenous authors and ten artists fully compatible with the RPG. You'll also be able to get our new dice game, Naasii, and our Story Guide Screen!
Welcome back to Coyote & Crow! This is our second crowdfunding campaign and we’re excited to be working directly with BackerKit to bring you so many incredible new ways to enjoy the world of Makasing.Â
The biggest part of this campaign, the one we’re crowdfunding for, and the one I’m most excited to tell you about are the ten Stories we’ve put together as a pair of digital PDF packages.Stories of the Free Lands, Volumes 1 & 2 are a collection of ready to go Stories for the Coyote & Crow Roleplaying Game.Â
We’re also offering a tri-fold Story Guide screen full of useful and commonly needed information and some incredible art on the outside.
You’ll also have early access to Naasii: A Coyote & Crow Dice Game. It’s a stand alone tabletop push-your-luck style dice game that the people of Makasing love to play. This game will release shortly into retail but you can get it early!
If you missed out on our first Kickstarter, or are just jumping into Coyote & Crow, you’ll also be able to get a copy of our Core Rulebook and our custom dice from Qworkshop.
We're offering so much beyond the 10 Stories!
If you weren’t familiar with Coyote & Crow before coming here, let me catch you up on things. Coyote & Crow is a science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game created by Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation) and a team of writers and artists, most of whom are Indigenous to North America. The game is set in an alternate timeline, one where colonization of the Americas never happened thanks to a climate event centuries ago that altered the future of everyone on Earth.
The game ended up being a huge hit and the campaign was large enough that we decided to turn the project into a publishing company focused on raising the voices of Indigenous creators, improving Indigenous representation in games, and working to get more Native Americans into modern gaming. The RPG went on to achieve a coveted Nebula Award nomination for game writing and has been heralded by Native and gaming journalists alike.
Since the campaign, we’ve released a set of custom dice, a free mobile app, a website, a wiki, a fictional language, called Chahi, that includes a character name generator, and more. For details, please visit our website and check out this great video on the setting of Coyote & Crow
Now, with your help, we’re going to take our next big step and not only expand the roleplaying game through new stories, but start branching out into tabletop board games.
Since the launch of our previous campaign, one of things players have requested the most are playable Stories for Coyote & Crow. We’ve created such a big world with so many possibilities that some people feel a little overwhelmed. So we decided that Stories should be our next focus. And not just one or two, but ten! And while these stories are mostly centered around the city of Cahokia and the surrounding Free Lands, we thought it was important to have as many different voices and visions as possible. We have ten different Indigenous authors paired up with ten different artists, so that each Story feels fresh and different.
The Stories are broken down into two volumes. Each features five Stories. Let’s introduce you to each volume and the team that brought them to you!
**Regarding physical copies of these Stories, please see our current Stretch Goal and Community updates!**
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More about the Stories of the Free Lands
These Stories are all formatted as individual PDFs and with a structure that will walk Story Guides through the whole thing from beginning to end. Each story includes:
A piece of opening fiction
A cultural acknowledgment
Story Background and Scene Breakdown
NPC summary and “common knowledge” information
A full Story, including Skill checks, dialogue and descriptions and important Path decisions
An appendix with all important NPC and item stats.
Gorgeous art throughout
Placeholder Art for Stories of the Free Lands Volume 1 Cover
Placeholder Art for Stories of the Free Lands Volume 2 Cover
Each volume of Stories of the Free Lands comes as a bundle of five PDFs. As of the time of this campaign, the Stories are all written and illustrated and are in the midst of being edited and the layouts being completed. We expect these to be delivered to backers shortly after the campaign finishes.
An Example of the Story layouts. Careful - SPOILERS!
These bundles are exclusive to this campaign! When this campaign is finished and everyone has received their copies of these Stories, we’ll eventually release eight of them for individual sale. However, two of them, one from each Volume, will be exclusive to these bundles. So if you want them all, this is the only way you’ll be able to get them.
Another example of Story layouts
A Video On Why We've Crafted This Campaign The Way We Have, From Connor Alexander
While our focus for this campaign is bringing you these ten incredible stories from so many talented people, we also know that some folks want more than just PDFs! So with this campaign, we’ve decided to give you all the option for some great Coyote & Crow accessories and games! Some of these items have already released and some are on their way to retail outlets soon. It's important for us to note that we are not crowdfunding to raise money for these two items below. They are already produced. But if you want to help Coyote & Crow Games grow, supporting these products in addition to the PDFs is a great way to help.
Naasii is a spin on both classic American dice games and Indigenous games of chance. 2-5 players will compete for the highest score by rolling sets of twelve-sided dice, hoping to score sets or runs without busting. It’s a fast, family-friendly game, great for your aunties and uncles as well as your weekly gaming group. The game was designed by Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation) and developed by acclaimed game designer, Daryl Andrews.
This game is one that is played by the people of Cahokia in the Coyote & Crow RPG and can be found throughout the city's gaming lounges and betting parlors.Â
In addition, the dice set that comes with this game is also the recommended dice set for each player of the Coyote & Crow roleplaying game. So if you need an extra set of dice, this game can fill that need as well!
The game comes in a beautiful box with art by Wolf Tomoyaketu (Comanche/Apache), and includes:
Twelve d12 dice (9 White, 3 Black)
A 100 sheet scorepad
Rule booklet
Five dual-sided player aids with one side giving a turn summary and the other offering optional rules
Our Story Guide Screen is a must have for any Coyote & Crow Roleplaying Game Saga. On the outside, facing the players, there’s a beautiful piece of art from Sadekaronhes Esquivel, spanning the entire front, showing a group of characters encountering Uktena, the famed horned serpent!
On the inside, we’ve got three panels of information that every Story Guide will find useful, including:
Steps of a Dice Check
Damage Sub-Types and Effects
Common Success Number Modifiers
Common Item Cost Ranks and Wealth Check Chart
Primary and Secondary Action List
Skills and Abilities descriptions
NPC Random Generator
Effects of Short and Long Rest as well as States
All of these include page number references to the core rulebook for ease of use.
In case you missed our previous crowdfunding campaign or are new to Coyote & Crow, we thought we’d offer folks the chance to get in on what we’ve released since last year. These two items are currently available for sale elsewhere, but by purchasing through our campaign here, you’ll give us the most direct support.
If you'd like to check out our PDF before committing to any new products, you can download it through our webstore HERE.Â
Our core rulebook for Coyote & Crow is more than 480 full color pages of roleplaying fun! Set in the unique world of Coyote & Crow, this book gives you everything you need to tell incredible stories, create vibrant, interesting characters, and immerse yourself in a Nebula Award nominated game.Â
Included in the core rulebook is:
More than 100 pages of world building and setting
Detailed section on building out a dynamic hero
A dedicated section for Story Guides, helping them craft out interesting Stories and Sagas
A standalone starter Story and six pre-generated characters
A pull out, full color, annotated map of the city of Cahokia
A glossary of the in-game language, Chahi
An Icons & Legends section, including a collection of interesting humans, terrifying creatures, and fascinating spirits
A spot UV cover
If you want to have a top tier experience playing the Coyote & Crow roleplaying game, nothing says you’re a fan like a set of custom dice. This set from Qworkshop features 12 twelve-sided dice, our recommendation for each player. There are nine white Standard dice, with purple numbering and graphics, and three Critical black dice, with gold numbering and graphics.Â
Lots of folks have asked about various pledge levels and specific item combinations. Our pledge levels were meant to reduce potential confusion on what you were getting. But that doesn't mean you can't add more stuff!
When you pledge, you're welcome to pledge OVER the amount you want to pledge OR wait until the campaign is over and then add more money to get individual items. Either way works. If you've already pledged, you can even go back in and adjust your pledge amount.
While the pledge manager will be available to you after the campaign has ended and you've received your survey, we'll supply you with the prices of the individual items (minus shipping) now, so that you can adjust your pledge accordingly.
Each copy of Naasii:Â $20
Each copy of the Story Guide Screen:Â $25
Each copy of QWorkshop custom dice: $30
Each copy of Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game: $70
Coyote & Crow Games is owned and created by Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation). But it wasn’t a solo effort and many people worked hard to bring both the core rulebook to life along with all of the other great products offered here. Below are the people who helped breathe life into these games.
You’re a fan of Coyote & Crow: If you already love Coyote & Crow, then the best way you can ensure that we continue to grow and become a thriving game company is to back this project. While we had a very successful crowdfunding campaign for our first book, it was really just enough to get us started as a publisher. We have so many more things we’d like to bring you and we’d love to say that this is just the beginning. Your pledge to this project will help that become a reality.
You’re a fan of the folks who created these Stories: The more successful this project is, the more these dedicated, brilliant creatives will have their voices heard and the more they’ll be paid by us (see our Stretch Goals). We hope that the success of this project leads these writers and artists to even bigger and better things – and hopefully further projects with Coyote & Crow.
You support our company goals: Coyote & Crow Games is dedicated to raising the voices of Indigenous creators throughout the tabletop game industry. Our deepest wish is that we’re successful enough to give them more work if they’d like it, and that we can help ensure that if they want it, they can go on to gain further work in this wonderful hobby. We want to see better representation of Indigenous people in all media, and more Indigenous creatives in gaming. In addition, we long to bring modern gaming to more Indigenous families with themes and concepts that touch on a range of Indigenous beliefs and practices.
Connor Alexander (right) with the Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin Jr., and his daughter, Jasmine.
"Coyote & Crow is a thrilling alternate history, with fascinating characters and ridiculously cool techno-magic. Best of all, it has made me imagine new kinds of futures, full of thriving Indigenous cities that are mythic but also delightfully mundane, full of comedy clubs and sleazy tricksters. Come for the adventure, but stay to experience a world that's so immersive it feels like a brilliant epic novel." - Annalee Newitz, author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and The Future of Another Timeline
Shanna Germain
"Joyous, robust, and clearly a labor of both love and skill, Coyote & Crow is a game that asks you not to just imagine a better world, but to become its champion. Say yes. You'll be so glad you did. - Shanna Germain, Monte Cook Games
Chez Oxendine
"Coyote and Crow brings together respectful, hopeful representation and a smartly designed set of systems built on equal parts mechanical heft and narrative freedom. It's been a breeze running the game out of an accessible core rulebook designed to be friendly from the font up. It's a breath of fresh air to see Native representation in the TTRPG space - but more than that, it's nice to see optimism and accessibility front and center in a medium that too often leans on exploring our tragedy." - Chez Oxendine, Tribal Business News
Egg Embry
"[Coyote & Crow] is polished, sensitive, well thought out, and ready to play. There’s so much room in this for Natives to make their own stories, yet enough guidance so that non-Natives will not blunder into stereotypes and racism. To me, that’s the key: Direction for what’s going to be fun versus what’s going to be offensive." - Egg Embry, Freelance RPG Journalist
An important note about our stretch goals. Our plan for this campaign is to get you amazing stories for your game of Coyote & Crow and to help bring accessories and games to your tables as quickly and efficiently as possible. We do not want to create stretch goals that create any unnecessary delays or production hurdles to fulfilling your pledges. As such, each of our stretch goals will follow two guidelines. First, they'll be goals that we can achieve quickly and internally without having to deal with outside parties whenever possible. Two, every goal will include a pay bonus to the creatives who worked on the Stories of the Free Lands. We strongly believe that people in the gaming industry are underpaid and undervalued. While we've already paid our creatives, we'd like to give them more. Our success with this campaign means additional money in their pockets.
FULL COLOR SPLASH ART!
We're working with some amazing artists to bring incredible full color covers to each story, from ten artists:
Nipinet Landsem
Jesse Thompson
Madison Munn Phillips
Amelia Leonards
Jennifer Lange
Nala Wu
Kristy North Peigan
Sadekaronhes Esquivel
Phil Cohen
K. Nami Leong
These covers will also be presented as digital art prints in PDF bundles, suitable for printing. In addition, every creative who worked on Stories of the Free Lands will get a 10% pay bonus!
For this stretch goal, each Volume of Stories of the Free Lands will get its own specific color cover art. In addition, Allen Turner, creator of Ehdrigohr, will write a full Story adventure for Coyote & Crow and will be available for free to all backers who backed at $20 or higher. We'll announce the artist for the story soon. In addition, all creatives who worked on this campaign will get a 20% pay bonus.
UPDATE: If this stretch goal is unlocked, all backers who backed at a $40 pledge or higher will be able to add on physical copies of Stories of the Free Lands to their pledge at a $20 discount! These books will ship separately from all other physical rewards and there will be a separate shipping charge. If we achieve this goal, we will notify backers of our timeline once we have more information from our printer.
When this stretch goal is unlocked, we'll greenlight a physical print run of the books in soft cover. The books will be released as two separate volumes of Stories, complete with the color covers from the previous stretch goals. These books will be sold into regular hobby distribution, world wide, and will also be available for sale on our website. We won't have a final price for the books yet, but they'll likely be around $35-40 each. In addition, all creatives who worked on this campaign will get a 30% pay bonus.
This goal will allow us to create and sustain an ongoing podcast for Coyote & Crow. We'll have interviews with Indigenous creatives, talk about Indigenous futurisms, folks from across the TTRPG and gaming community, create audio dramas and actual plays, share exclusive content and more. In addition, all creatives who worked on this campaign will get a 40% pay bonus.
Shipping, Logistics, Timing & Other Important Things
You may or may not have an understanding of how shipping, printing, and logistics works in the game industry in general, or currently, but to say things are a mess would be an understatement. So we want to be really clear about a number of important things.
Physical rewards are only shipping within the United States & Canada. While we can accept pledges for the digital rewards from anywhere in the world, the current situation is one where we do not feel the time is right to ship outside of the US & Canada for physical products. We’re very sorry to have to take this stance. There won’t be exceptions. Please do not ask. However, all of these physical products will eventually be available through normal retail distribution channels (see our FAQ for details).Â
Additionally, we'd like to add that we've changed how we're shipping to our Canadian supporters. There will be a small flat fee included in your shipping for your package that will account for customs & brokerage fees.Â
Stories of the Free Lands, Volumes 1 and 2 are digital only products. While it’s possible that we may do a physical print run as part of our stretch goals, we want everyone to understand that this is not a physical product. As of the start of this campaign, the writing and art is finished and the Stories are currently in the final edit and layout phase and will be completed soon.
Naasii and the Coyote & Crow Story Guide Screen are both finished printing and are on their way to the US from the manufacturer. There will not be a long wait to fulfill these.
Coyote & Crow the Core Rulebook and the Qworkshop Custom Dice Set are already in our warehouse and will ship out immediately with all other physical rewards.
Once you have filled out your survey, you’ll be given access to our pledge manager where you can add on individual items to your pledge.
As stated above, literally all of the physical products offered here have already been printed. The digital products are nearing completion. From that standpoint, risks are low. However, we live in challenging times and we want to be really clear and up front about any potential issues.
The biggest is, of course, shipping. There may be unexpected delays. There may be an increase in costs between now and when we ship. We’ll do our best to charge you an amount for shipping that is both fair and to bring your games to you safely and in a timely manner.
It’s also possible that Covid or unforeseeable events might delay shipping or fulfillment. We don’t believe there will be a severe delay, but the last few years have taught us not to be too sure about anything.
We also want to be very clear that once this campaign ends, we’ll be sending out a survey shortly after to confirm payment and shipping information. Once we begin fulfillment of this campaign, you will have one year to fill out your survey and collect your rewards. After one year, we will close fulfillment and we will consider your pledge abandoned if you have not completed your survey. The responsibility for supplying us with accurate contact and shipping information is absolutely on you, as a backer. We are not responsible for mis-shipped games or bad email addresses. Please do not use AppleID for your contact information.
As mentioned previously, Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the Coyote & Crow Custom Dice Set are already available for sale through retail channels. Naasii and our Story Guide Screen will go on sale in retail after we've shipped out the first wave of fulfillment for this campaign.Â
