Recently, Monte Cook Games and Rusty Quill launched their crowdfunding campaign for The Magnus Archives TTRPG. This is another high-profile award-winning horror anthology podcast being adapted to the tabletop scene.
And the audience is loudly here for it. The project was fully funded within thirty minutes.
The Magnus Archives TTRPG campaign
The Backerkit campaign for The Magnus Archives TTRPG does a great job expressing the atmosphere and world of the horror podcast. The series revolves around the Magnus Institute, an organization dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird.
Each episode involves the head archivist of the institute looking over a collection of statements. The archivist reads these statements, converts them to audio records, and provides his own commentary.
This anthology format slowly paints a more horrifying, larger picture. Over the course of the show, the archivist and his team notice disturbing patterns. Organizations, entities, and agents from beyond.
The Magnus Archives TTRPG will bring all of that twisted atmosphere into the TTRPG space using Monte Cook Games' Cypher System. The core rulebook will be roughly 400 pages thick, and feature a new fear and stress system.
Players will take on the role of investigators of the Institute. They will encounter beings and objects from the podcast such as the NotThem, the Man Upon The Stair, the books of Jurgen Leitner, and The People's Church of the Divine Host.
The Backerkit campaign even has a section stating that The Magnus Archives TTRPG will draw from all five seasons of the podcast. This means that all of the show's secrets and horrifying truths, including its existentially haunting final season, maybe spoiled for those who haven't listened.
Alternatively, for those who are familiar with the podcast's events, this means that GMs can create or change whatever they want. Everything from new horrors to new characters to the very location of the Magnus Institute itself is for them to decide.
Additional materials for The Magnus Archives TTRPG are extensive. Add-ons include a set of novelty dice, a storage box and dice tray in the shape of a Leitner tome, and even a physical Leitner book: A Guest For Mr. Spider.
As for the different pledge levels, they are as follows:
- Intern for $30: A PDF of the Core Rulebook
- Archival Assistant for $75: A physical copy and PDF of the Core Rulebook
- Archivist for $135: A campaign exclusive deluxe edition of the physical Core Rulebook and PDF
- Investigative Team for $199: The deluxe physical Core Rulebook, a standard physical Core Rulebook a GM campaign journal, a set of five character portfolios, and five Player's Guides.
- Avatar for $279: Everything from the Investigative Team level a set of Leitner-themed dice, a book-safe style presentation box that doubles as a dice tray,and a dozen Leitner bookplates
- Entity for $349: Everything from the Avatar level, the deluxe edition Core Rulebook autographed by Monte Cook and creator Jonathan Sims, early access to the game's development phase, and a physical copy of A Guest For Mr. Spider.
As mentioned before, The Magnus Archives TTRPG met its funding goal of $100,000 within thirty minutes of the campaign going live. At time of writing, the campaign has raised $435,965, more than four times their funding goal.
This success is mirrored by a similar project. The Old Gods of Appalachia RPG, another Monte Cook adaptation of a horror podcast, met their goal within 11 minutes. Their campaign concluded with $2,097,820, dwarfing their goal of $50,000.
The Magnus Archives TTRPG campaign will conclude on September 22.
