I’m not fond of choosing favorites. Favorite food…child…color…number. Well, I take it back on the number. 9 is the best. But with everything else, I hate choosing. Obviously I love gaming. But another really strong interest I have is in comics. I love comics as much as I do tabletop games (I don’t write about them though…yet). Imagine my excitement when Andrew Cawood of Cawood Publishing let me in on a Kickstarter he was working on with a comic artist! That campaign, RPGenerations: Tabletop Knights, will feature the art of Domenico Neziti and, depending on your pledge level, an original 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure by Cawood Publishing.
RPGenerations: Tabletop Knights goes live soon!
I got to chat with Andrew regarding this upcoming Kickstarter and I’ll share some of that conversation here. Also, while I have read some of Andrew’s work on DMs Guild and DriveThruRPG, I haven’t reviewed his work (yet). I know some of you will be familiar with Cawood Publishing but for those who aren’t, I’ll share some information.
What is Cawood Publishing?
Cawood Publishing is an indie RPG publisher in Vancouver, Canada with over 30 5th Edition products. Their mission is to “make inspiring and practical products.” They have made the World of Myrr setting as well as handbooks for DMs and adventures.
Originally from South Africa, Andrew lives on the edge of the woods with his wife and daughter and his main job is as a stay-at-home dad. He first started playing D&D around 1978 and started DMing shortly thereafter and continued for about 10 years. He took a 30 year break and then returned to D&D for 5th Edition and has been running a weekly game for the last four years. Andrew is most fond of 5th Edition and prefers playing elf wizards.
It was during this return that he created Myrr. At the time, it was just a village and now it has grown to an entire world with three published setting books and six more planned.
When Andrew isn’t dedicating his time to his daughter he focuses his gaming primarily on D&D but may also revisit Star Frontiers once his daughter is older. He also has a weekly podcast called West of the Wood. You can find Cawood Publishing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
More about the campaign
I missed two of Cawood Publishing’s Kickstarters but considered the Monsters of Feyland an “instaback”. Travis Hanson’s got an art style that reminds me so much of Bill Watterson that I felt like the book would be a bunch of D&D fey monsters as imagined by Calvin (or Hobbes…either one).
This campaign’s artist, Domenico, also has a distinctive style, albeit different from Travis. Nonetheless, I love it. You may recall from the Tavern Brawl Builder review I wrote that I’m a sucker for pencil art. Domenico’s color art is also impressive. In fact, I realized after learning about this campaign that I was already following him on Facebook. He has a drawing of a woodchuck bursting from Pinnochio that I love. Such a cool Aliens reference.
Andrew chatted with Dom a few months back and he (Dom) asked about doing this collaboration. Andrew was clear that he’s been very fortunate in the artists they’ve worked with. Domenico Neziti’s biggest inspirations from RPGs and fantasy are Larry Elmore, Jeff Dee, Keith Parkinson, Brom, Tony DiTerlizzi, Frank Frazetta, and Wayne Reynolds. It was a good match for Andrew because he’s a big fan of Elmore, Parkinson, and DiTerlizzi.
At a minimum, the comic will come with 100 original comics by Dom but there will also be a book of NPCs by him and an adventure by Cawood Publishing. There is also a possibility of custom dice, t-shirts, and more for add-ons.
What makes this campaign special or unique? Both from your perspective as the creator and from a potential backer’s.
“Dom’s comics are really funny and his insight is amazing. He really understands the group dynamics at the gaming table. We’ll make it interesting by having a story about a group of players playing on game night. Dom will have illustrations for this as the Kickstarter progresses.”
Final Thoughts
This is admittedly an article unlike many others I’ve done on this site. But I’m excited for this Kickstarter because it merges two of my favorite hobbies, comics and D&D, into a single campaign. I hope you will find as interesting as I do and consider backing it. It should be live soon!
