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General

When is this Kickstarter launching?

Legend In The Mist launches on Tuesday February 6th, 10am EST.

What is the day-one reward?

If you pledge for a physical pledge level in the first 24 hours of the Kickstarter campaign, you will receive two (2) acorn-shaped six-sided dice (d6) valued at $15 which are compatible with Legend In The Mist and all other Son of Oak games. If you pledge for the Thaumaturge Collector’s Set pledge level, you will receive these in addition to the 6 acorn dice already in your set.

Will a demo of the game be released soon?

Yes, we are working on a demo and will release it before or on launch day.

For New Backers

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a launchpad for creators to raise funds for the initial production of their creation. Backers (that's you!) can support the creator by pre-ordering the product at a discounted price.

What does it mean to back (or to pledge for) a project?

When you back a project, the creator sends you their creation in the form of a reward. That means you'll get the product once it's developed and produced. Besides getting the product itself, you're also joining a community. Follow along the production process, take part in important surveys, and give the creator valuable feedback.

How do I pledge?

In order to pledge, click that green button that says “Back this project”. You'll get to select your shipping country and choose your desired pledge level and reward.

When is my money collected?

Your money will be collected only after the project ends on Thursday, March 7th, 2024. If the project is canceled for any reason, you won't be charged.

What payment methods can I use?

You can use any debit or credit card associated with Visa, Mastercard, or American Express, as well as Discover and JCB cards. Kickstarter does not accept payments with PayPal.

When will I get my reward?

The Legend in the Mist game and accessories are set to ship in March 2025 digitally and June 2025 in print.

ABOUT THE GAME

What does ‘rustic fantasy’ mean?

Remember that “old legend” feeling? The one you got when you first read, watched, or listened to a fantasy work of fiction? “Rustic Fantasy” is our name for a fantasy genre that echoes that sentiment. It explores unlikely heroes from tucked-away villages – such as Lord Of The Rings’ hobbits or Princess Mononoke’s Ashitaka – who are driven by circumstances to set out on a journey through the countryside and wilderness, surrounded by unknown dangers. It’s a counterforce to high magic settings where magic is cheap, accessible, and familiar, and becomes an allegory to technology. The natural world and the goodness of true-hearted protagonists play a prominent role in rustic fantasy, although they are contracted by and intermixed with the dark, the mysterious, and the selfish.

For Legend in The Mist RPG, this term is primarily used in reference to the Hearts of Ravensdale companion setting. See under Setting below.

How is Legend in The Mist different from other fantasy RPGs?

There are many features that make Legend In The Mist unique, but here are the top highlights:

• Characters are built on descriptors (“tags”), not stats and numbers, so you can create any imaginable fantasy character, world, or magic system.
• There is only one roll, which changes based on the tags you, your opponent, and the environment have. Using a short list of possible Effects, you use the same roll to attack, heal, sneak, cast spells, or any other story action you can think of.
• Characters change by story choices. When you favor one of your motivations over another, some of your abilities change, starting a new chapter in your character’s story arc.
• You choose how story-driven or crunchy you want it to be, and when. With Effects being an optional add-on to every roll, you can seamlessly switch between narrative and tactical action resolution to suit the needs of each story moment.
• You can play characters of different power levels without anyone feeling like they can do less, because everyone – weak or mighty – has the power to drive the story.

What rule set or game engine does the game use?

Legend in the Mist uses an updated version of the City of Mist RPG rules. It is the same engine that powers the mythic cyberpunk Son of Oak game, :Otherscape, but adapted and developed for fantasy.

How was the City of Mist engine recently improved?

The City of Mist engine was improved by:

• removing the eight core moves and merging them into a single roll; 
• removing unnecessary terms and point pools like Juice and Clues so that all outcomes are paid for with Power;
• making the ‘crunchy’ bits of the system completely optional, so you can switch them on or off, depending on your preferred style of play or even on the scene or individual action;
• better codifying the use of soft and hard moves into Threats and Consequences, which are now used in a fixed turn flow of Establish >> Action >> Consequences;
• adding a “cinematic” gear system; and more.

This video covers the top improvements we recently made to this game engine.

Is this game more narrative (story-driven) or tactical?

Legend In The Mist puts an emphasis on narrative elements, with most core mechanics dealing primarily with the narrative aspects of the game. For example, tags allow you to bring any story element into the gameplay, including feelings, backstory details, or catchphrases. Player characters’ motivations and personal story arcs take center stage.

However, the game also includes tactical options that can be activated as desired. “Power” can be used after a roll to purchase Effects, and Tracked Challenges will require more strategic thinking to overcome. The MC (GM) can choose to include more tactical tags – like cornered, fog, distracted, prone, slow reload, etc. – to create rich battlefield gameplay. 

What kinds of characters can I play?

Thanks to its tag-based characters, Legend In The Mist supports ANY character you can imagine. You can play anything from farmers, to mighty wizards, to dragons (not dragonborn, dragons). Anything you can describe can become tags: new and unique ideas for magic systems, characters that have no powers or skills but revolve around their personality, and any kind of magical or monstrous creature, even ghosts.

See under Setting below for which types of characters you can play in the Hearts of Ravensdale setting.

How will magic work?

Legend In The Mist allows you to create any magic system you desire, and will include several example magic systems that you can incorporate into your game alongside guides for creating new ones. It can support the good old Vancian magic system (spell slots) but also so much more: spirit binding, faerie magic, ritual magic, tattoo magic, hedge magic, alchemy, and more and more. Each magic system can be tailored through a specific set of tags that define how it is used, what powers it, and what are its limitations.

See under Setting below for the cultivation-based magic that is prominent in the Hearts of Ravensdale setting.

How will character ancestry/species/race be factored in?

Legend In The Mist characters are built out of four themes, or groups of tags. Themes are built using Themebooks, questionnaires that help you choose tags for your character. To represent race, ancestry, or culture, we are currently planning to include a People themebook (as in “your people”). Each character can choose whether to pick that themebook and highlight their heritage, or not pick it, and highlight other aspects of the character. You can also have elements of your heritage or culture featured in tags across all your themes.

What does “support for mixed power levels” mean?

Legend in the Mist balances varying power levels between player characters by giving them equal narrative power, reflecting classic fantasy stories where it is not always the most powerful who determines the narrative. The ultimate example to this is Lord of The Rings’ Frodo, who was able to undertake a task even the mightiest of Middle-Earth were not able to.

A character’s power level is determined by the types of themes they have (in ascending power): Origin, Adventure, and Greatness. But because they’re all themes, they’re ultimately used in the same way, and Origin themes may have tags more useful for any given action or situation than a Greatness theme’s tags. 

What does character progression look like?

Themes come with an experience track that, when filled, gains the theme a new tag or an improvement, a unique rule for your character. Experience can be gained in different ways, the most common are by accepting a reduction to the Power of your roll based on a theme’s weakness tag, or by sacrificing something important to stay true to your character’s motivation.

If instead of staying true to your character’s motivation, you end up acting against it, you add a mark to the theme’s decay track. When the decay track is filled, a dramatic turning point in your character’s story arc takes place: you lose the theme entirely and replace it with a new one, gaining a new power set and setting your character on a new path.

Unlike in City of Mist, you will not need to pick the opposite category of theme when you replace a theme (an Origin theme may be replaced with another Origin theme, and so on), so there is no built-in polarity between the different theme types – you can chart the your character’s evolution path as you wish.

What does ‘setting agnostic’ mean?

While like other systems Legend in The Mist comes aimed towards specific kinds of stories, as reflected in the Hearts of Ravensdale setting, the mechanics in the core Legend in The Mist game are not tied to any one setting. This means the rules do not need to be adjusted if you want to play in your own setting – simply create tags that describe the characters, creatures, and places in your favorite fantasy world.

Can this game be played solo or 1-on-1?

With only one roll and a selection of Challenges with predetermined Consequences it will be easy to modify the game to play solo. Nevertheless, the Kickstarter campaign will include a stretch goal to add specific rules for solo and 1-on-1 play.

The Setting

What is Hearts of Ravendale?

Hearts of Ravensdale is a rustic fantasy world and campaign that will be published in a setting book alongside Legend In The Mist RPG, and will be its main source for examples. All the art you see for Legend In The Mist portrayed people, places, and creatures from the Hearts of Ravensdale setting!

Hearts of Ravensdale follows a story that begins in a remote mountain community called the Dales, and expands onto the greater surrounding world. Here is what this setting will focus on: 

• It feels like an old fireside tale. Everything in Hearts of Ravensdale, from its art to its campaign, is crafted to make your game feel like a legend, going back to the roots of fantasy. It's a lot about what your hero has in their heart.
• It revels in countryside and wilderness journeys, traversing over land, overcoming dangers both natural and ancient, and having fireside conversations with your companions about what it all means.
• It makes magic mysterious again. Magic and legendary beings are unknown and strange, designed to mystify players at first, but have rich lore behind them for the players to uncover. Players who want to become magic practitioners must discover this magic along with their characters.

What can I play as in Hearts of Ravendale?

In Hearts of Ravensdale, most characters will begin the journey as human villagers, denizens of a remote mountain community known as the Dales, unlikely heroes that are nonetheless pushed into a great journey within and beyond the Dales. Characters can be farmers, warriors, wayward youngsters, village apothecaries, or any individual you can expect to find in the Dales. This is only the starting point, however, and with every adventure these heroes can undergo transformations and learn new skills and abilities, becoming more than they once were or, conversely, remain as themselves and change the world as mere Apple Pickers.

This is the recommended starting point for most companions, but some players can also take the role of more powerful characters who are maybe guides or mentors to these wide-eyed villagers. The Wanderlands beyond the Dales abound with strange types: Knight of the dying city of Stormhelm, wanderers from far off lands, Thaumaturges (wizards) seeking power, and the mysterious Creatures of Twilight, spirits and monsters of myriad forms – all of whom can be player characters.

What is magic like in this setting?

In Hearts of Ravensdale, magic has been mostly forgotten, absent in the lives of many, especially in the Dales. But the potential for magic lies dormant within many individuals, and some artisans can attain uncanny results with their craft, a form of hedge magic.

The setting also features cultivation-based Thaumaturgy, inspired in parts (but not identical to) systems of cultivation found in some Asian cultures. In the greater world beyond the Dales, out in the Wanderlands, there are the Thaumaturges, those who have cultivated their inner power to achieve their own personal brand of magic, although they are few and far between. Thaumaturgy is not merely learned; it must be experienced with one’s whole body, and those who practice it are always people of substance who have bought it through great adversity and trials. Many of them are obsessed with finding new ways to increase their power, seeking knowledge from a bygone era to develop new magical abilities. The Great Thaumaturges of old are now forgotten in all but name, but their actions echo throughout the setting and its lore, as well as its main campaign.

What kinds of non-human races or beings are there?

In addition to humans, the world of Hearts of Ravensdale is populated by many strange and mysterious beings, which humans call collectively “Creatures of Twilight”. However, this classification is misleading, because Creatures of Twilight are diverse in nature, not all sharing the same origin: some are intelligent individuals, some are beatslike and monstrous, some are deceptively beautiful, some are the results of Thaumaturgy, and others are emissaries from a faraway place. In their fear and distrust, humans lump together all of them. 

What all Creatures of Twilight share is that they are essentially different from humans: they are entirely different beings (unlike in other fantasy settings, where some races are a variation on humans or an allegory for human cultures). As such, they do not constitute a “race”, even if there are many of them, and are more comparable to angels, demons, or ghosts.

Are there gods or deities in this setting?

Hearts of Ravensdale has a rich cosmology and mythology to explore, but almost all knowledge of it has been lost to the people of the Dales. Players will get the experience of uncovering and learning the cosmology during play. It can be said, however, that in the life of the Dalespeople there is no religion or organized spirituality; a dwindling few practice the Oldways, not so much worshiping as they are praying to the memory of an ancient folk heroine, one known as the Lady of the Dales. North of the Dales, another cult similarly worships a long-dead king. These ancient paragons are the closest thing to deities or gods in this setting.

Is this setting connected to other Son of Oak games?

While the engine is the same as :Otherscape and backwards compatible with City of Mist, there is no direct connection between these individual settings and Hearts of Ravensdale, except perhaps in a very theoretical cosmological point where these disparate realities meet. However, the similarities mean that it is possible to port characters from one to the other with little to no tweaking.

Rewards

What pledge levels will be available in this Kickstarter campaign?

While there may be some last minute changes, the current pledge levels offered are as follows:

• $29 Digital: All Digital Files, including Universe copies on Alcehmy VTT
• $49 Core: The above, plus a hardcover copy of the Legend In The Mist RPG Core Book
• $79 Core + Setting: The above, plus a hardcover copy of the Hearts of Ravensdale Setting Book
• $129 Ravenhome Slipcase Set: The above, plus a slipcase set including character folios, GM screen, tracking cards, and all physical stretch goals
• $299 Thaumaturge Collector’s Set: The above, plus a collector’s leather-bound slipcase and leather-bound books, a leather sachets with 6 acorn dice, a cloth map of the Dales, and 10 art cards.

What add-ons will be available in this Kickstarter campaign?

You will be able to pick up most of the above pledge level items as individual add-ons. In addition, you will be able to choose as add-ons most City of Mist and :Otherscape game books and sets.

What books are needed to run the game?

You will only need the Core Book to run a game of Legend in the Mist. Playing in the Hearts of Ravensdale setting will require the Setting Book, but other settings do not need it.

Will Legend in The Mist use AI art?

Son of Oak Game Studio products feature only art drawn by human artists and do not include any art created through text prompts by generative AI.

When will the game release?

The Legend in the Mist game and accessories are set to ship in March 2025 digitally and June 2025 in print. These are estimated dates.

If I backed day one, but want to upgrade my pledge to a higher tier, add some add-ons, etc, will I lose my first day benefits?

No. We can see when you originally backed the campaign, so we can upgrade your pledge freely and we will still send you with the first-day reward.

Shipping

Do you ship worldwide?

We ship to most countries, with customs-friendly shipping to the US, UK, EU (except Malta and Cyprus), Canada, and Australia. The shipping fee estimates for these destinations are given in the Shipping section of the campaign page.

We cannot ship to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. 

When are shipping fees and taxes paid?

Shipping fees and taxes, such as VAT, will not be charged on Kickstarter and instead will be charged in the BackerKit pledge manager AFTER the Kickstarter. Please review the estimated shipping fees in the table under the Shipping section, and take those into account. You must pay the shipping fees and tax charges via the pledge manager after the Kickstarter  to receive your rewards.