This bizarre, vague Kickstarter promises a "multimedia fantasy RPG experience" including a D&D-compatible sourcebook, an actual play series, an animated short film, a vinyl soundtrack, a scented candle, and (somehow) more

In the world of tabletop roleplaying, we're certainly no strangers to over-ambitious Kickstarters, but in all my years in the hobby I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like ProgCore Fantasy: Dark Age of Theer. Not just a book, but a whole «multimedia fantasy RPG experience», it promises everything from an actual play series to custom scented candles. 

Launched this week by actor Todd Stashwick (you might recognise him from season 3 of Star Trek Picard, if you made it that far), the project is asking for $150,000 to bring ProgCore Fantasy to life, seemingly in every medium Todd could think of. That includes:

So, what actually is ProgCore Fantasy? Well… it's vibes, basically. The pitch is incredibly vague, evoking nostalgia for the era of '70s and '80s fantasy and prog rock while giving almost no details about the setting. Its three core pillars are, we're told, «wonder, mystery, and danger». Well, we all like those, but if you want to know anything about how it's going to be wonderful, mysterious, or indeed dangerous, you're out of luck even after watching the full eight minute pitch video.

Experienced TTRPG players and savvy Kickstarter backers will already have spotted some other red flags here. For one, $150,000 is a small amount to raise to make even just the core products here happen—even if that goal is far exceeded, the project is unlikely to raise the kind of money realistically needed to produce a book, a web series, an animation, and a soundtrack, plus all the other physical rewards being promised across the various stretch goals and 21 (!) different pledge levels. 

Another is the book itself. «System agnostic» means there's no actual game here, just a setting. Given the incredibly scant details given (there are ancient ruins and dragons is about all we get) and promise that a significant portion of the book will just be short fiction, it's really unclear what gameable content is actually being offered. Even the promise of D&D 5e compatibility is a