Angel Dust and King for a Day are the sequels to The Real Thing RPG, released in 2022. The Real Thing is an official Faith No More (yeah, the band) RPG, based on themes from their albums and loaded with callbacks to their music from the 1990s.
Did you miss the campaign? That's okay! We've got plenty of stuff for you over on the pre-order page! You can get all of the great products listed below by heading over here.
See something you like? Want something not in your pledge level package? Maybe you want two of something, one for you and one for a friend. This is where you'll find it! In addition to getting any of the new products for Angel Dust and/or King for a Day, you can pick up The Real Thing RPG and the engraved dice to go along with it.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT to get The Real Thing RPG book 1! While we are back with two follow-up titles in this campaign, you can purchase the first book now! Get The Real Thing RPG Now! We've got the original book in print or digital, as well as several other goodies. Even better, if you order a pdf or print copy of The Real Thing book, we'll be delivering the digital versions as soon as the campaign is over! You don;t have to wait for the other two books!
Now we're back. Your monumental support for The Real Thing RPG last year has made it possible – nay, necessary - to produce this follow-up project. So, without further ado, we present Angel Dust and King for a Day!
What's in the books?!
In brief, each book has two parts. The first part of each describes the "sandbox" of rules and systems, along with challenges, character creation, and advancement. Each book's sandbox gets a little wider and deeper than the one before it, giving the narrators and players more options. With this sandbox, creative groups can run just about any kind of game, though the focus (of the art, in particular) is on semi-modern, real(ish) world types of content.
The second part of each book is an adventure module. Each book has somewhere between 15 - 20 hours of playable content, with detailed descriptions of places, people, events, and plenty of prompts and wiggle room to make it your own. The books build on one another, introducing new rules/systems through play. The adventures are based on themes from the music of Faith No More, but you don't have to be a fan to enjoy the content. The Real Thing starts with the characters uncovering a mystery and learning a lot about themselves along the way. Angel Dust builds on this as the players discover the wider world and help define it. King for a Day introduces a hidden side of the world, complete with supernatural encounters. In the words of one of our backers, The Real Thing is about "truth", Angel Dust is about "trust", and King for a Day is about "power."
What is The Real Thing RPG (in brief)?
The Real Thing RPG is a tabletop RPG that leverages a modified version of the open-source Powered-by-the-Apocalypse system. More importantly, The Real Thing RPG is the first-ever Official Faith No More role-playing game. The game system and the included stories are all based on themes from FNM's music. The themes and content from their music are tightly woven into the character archetypes (Playbooks), rules, and the stories in the books. For more, check out the original campaign or the website.
This new project rounds out the planned The Real Thing RPG anthology. Based on popular feedback from our previous backers, we decided to do both titles in a single campaign. Backers of this project will have the option to get any of the three titles (Real Thing, Angel Dust, and King for a Day) as well as other merch and related products.Â
What is Angel Dust?
Angel Dust picks up where The Real Thing left off. But much like the albums, the juxtaposition is pretty jarring. With Angel Dust, we are adding a completely new set of rules for creating and populating your world beyond the hyper-local. With these augmented and new rules, Narrators will be able to leverage PC Discoveries to help generate locations and factions that are unique and linked to the characters. These new tools allow for stories to expand and flow outward from the characters, creating player-driven narratives.
We have also added 2 new playbooks, The Broker and The Fanatic. Each adds an archetype that we felt was missing from the first 10 playbooks. Â
What is King for a Day?
While Angel Dust is about expanding the world of The Real Thing RPG, King for a Day is about expanding and exploring the nature of reality. We've added rules for encounters with the supernatural, and even for creating supernatural characters. While the focus of the included story is still on a 1990s grind through the shady underworld, the rules allow for all new concepts and abilities. With the new rules from Angel Dust and King for a Day, narrators can create stories in nearly any setting and genre while maintaining the core focus on gritty stories about outsiders maneuvering through mysteries and intrigue.Â
The new systems introduced in King for a Day greatly expand the options for each character and playbook without changing their core concepts. Players will be asked difficult questions and be required to make difficult decisions as they advance. They spent the past few stories uncovering and defining who they were/are and how they fit into the world. With the new systems from King for a Day they'll be asked what they are willing to sacrifice to move forward.Â
What About the Products?
Just like with The Real Thing RPG phase 1, we're looking at Angel Dust and King for a Day each being around 100 - 128 pages, depending on what stretch goals we hit. Each book will be printed with the same high-quality materials including thick, magazine-like paper, at a size of 5.5 by 8.5 inches. Each book will be divided into two primary parts: Sytems/Rules and The Story. With the systems and rules, groups will have a sandbox with which to craft their own stories. The included stories are based strongly on our interpretations of Faith No More's musical themes and take place in a version of the 1990s. In terms of style, we are continuing with the gritty, zine-like look, reminiscent of 1990s graphic novels, local concert posters, and zine culture in general.Â
For more information about the physical products, check out the Add-ons section, below.
Aside from the dice, which are being produced by Gameland (based in China), everything is going to be printed right here in our backyard, Indianapolis. This allows us greater quality control and face-to-face interaction with the printers. Costs are about 5-10% higher than overseas competitors, but it is well worth it!
We had a ton of great coverage from some fantastic blogs, podcasts, and media outlets during our last campaign. Probably the most important thing to note, however, is that Faith No More themselves has authorized this project! While they aren't part of the creative process, they have approved the concepts and the direction. We have been fortunate to work with such a great group!
Our first campaign received a ton of great press and influencer coverage. Here are a few of the outlets that were kind enough to pay attention to us! Check out the original campaign for links to various coverage.
Obviously, we can't just rest on our laurels. We've been back at it, chatting with more great people about the additions and new content in Angel Dust and KFAD. Check out some of the coverage, and be sure to stick around and absorb some of these creators' other stuff as well! Â
Backers of this project will most likely want copies of both Angel Dust and King for a Day because they make up parts 2 and 3 of The Real Thing RPG Anthology. For backers that are new to the product, you can also pick up copies of The Real Thing RPG part 1 as an add-on. The pledge levels below are packaged based on the assumption that you want it all (and you can have it)! If you want individual products, you can pledge at the lowest level, then select add-ons of individual products.
If you want to get copies of the original Real Thing RPG, you can buy them here and have them delivered in the coming days/weeks!
NOTE: All shipping will be charged separately during the fulfillment portion of the project.
The Digital Hero Bundle:
Get the digital version of Angel Dust and King for a Day! The files will be provided as bookmarked PDFs for ease of use. Â $24 US
The Print Hero Bundle
Get standard print editions of Angel Dust and King for a Day. Each book is full of great new artwork from a bevy of talented international artists, with cover artwork by James Mosingo. We anticipate the book will be about 100 - 128 pages when complete, depending on the stretch goals hit and the amount of extra art we add. Books will be printed on high-quality, low-gloss paper, perfect bound for a clean finish. You'll also get digital versions of the books. Â $50 US
The Superhero Bundle
Get the limited edition print versions of Angel Dust and King for a Day. This version will only be available as part of this campaign, and each book features a gorgeous upgraded cover with foil artwork. Each book is full of great new artwork from a bevy of talented international artists, with cover artwork by James Mosingo. We anticipate the book will be about 100 - 128 pages when complete, depending on the stretch goals hit and the amount of extra art we add. Books will be printed on high-quality, low-gloss paper, perfect bound for a clean finish. You'll also get digital versions of the books. Â $70 US
The Real (Every)Thing Bundle
Get standard print editions of The Real Thing, Angel Dust, and King for a Day as well as a custom slipcase to hold all three books. Each book is full of great new artwork from a bevy of talented international artists, with cover artwork by James Mosingo. We anticipate the book will be about 100 - 128 pages when complete, depending on the stretch goals hit and the amount of extra art we add. Books will be printed on high-quality, low-gloss paper, perfect bound for a clean finish. You'll also get digital versions of the books. Â $85 US
The Gamer Bundle
Get the limited edition print versions of Angel Dust and King for a Day. This version will only be available as part of this campaign, and each book features a gorgeous upgraded cover with foil artwork. Each book is full of great new artwork from a bevy of talented international artists, with cover artwork by James Mosingo. We anticipate the book will be about 100 - 128 pages when complete, depending on the stretch goals hit and the amount of extra art we add. Books will be printed on high-quality, low-gloss paper, perfect bound for a clean finish. You'll also get digital versions of the books.
Along with the books, you get a slipcase to hold all three volumes, a set of Angel Dust engraved resin dice, a set of King for a Day engraved resin dice, and the premium sticker pack. Â $100 US
The All-In Bundle
Get the limited edition print versions of Angel Dust and King for a Day. This version will only be available as part of this campaign, and each book features a gorgeous upgraded cover with foil artwork. Each book is full of great new artwork from a bevy of talented international artists, with cover artwork by James Mosingo. We anticipate the book will be about 100 - 128 pages when complete, depending on the stretch goals hit and the amount of extra art we add. Books will be printed on high-quality, low-gloss paper, perfect bound for a clean finish. You'll also get digital versions of the books.
Along with the books, you get a slipcase to hold all three volumes, a set of Angel Dust engraved resin dice, a set of King for a Day engraved resin dice, and the premium sticker pack.
You'll also get the Angel Dust and King for a Day logo tee shirts. These are high-end Jerzees 560M shirts, which will stand the test of time and are incredibly comfortable. The shirts are printed here in our own backyard, with no expense spared.
$150 US
Invictus Tier
Get the All-In Bundle, PLUS you get to play The Real Thing RPG with the creators! We'll run a special, several-session-long adventure arc using all of the new systems, rules, and select story elements. Really, this is friggin' priceless, right?!
We anticipate this being done virtually over the course of many weeks. We will work with all parties to schedule and run these sessions, using US EST as the basis for scheduling. This will take as many as eight 4-hour sessions. We cannot promise that we will be able to accommodate all schedules. For those who back us at this level, there is no guarantee that we will have you present at every session. We will try our best, though!
We've seen what can happen when fandoms overlap. We were dumbstruck by the number of people like us – fans of Faith No More AND lovers of independent RPGs. Last campaign, we blew our goal out of the water! So, we'll be aggressive this time. We're shooting for the stars and we'll be happy if we land with the bones of Cosmo floating somewhere in space.
Woodpecker From Mars?
Yeah, that's right! We've written a banger of a sci-fi/horror story using The Real Thing system. Our own Jason Peercy ran it during Gen Con, and people loved it! When we hit $30,000, we'll add this story as an appendix to one of the books, complete with maps and all kinds of cool stuff!
Separation Anxiety?
This is another adventure we've run for some friends using The Real Thing. Imagine 12th-century "science" and the occult leading to not remembering a goddamned thing about yourself... It's a bit of physical and psychological horror, not suitable for children. When we hit $35,000, we'll throw this one in too!
Expanded Stuff Catalog?
Stuff is the generic name for equipment and items that characters might accumulate and use. The Real Thing introduced a handful of example items. Angel Dust and King for a Day will add a few more. If we hit this stretch goal, we'll add even more! Want to know what a gas grenade does? We'll add it! Interested in leveraging the internet for assistance in research? We'll tell you how!Â
Expanded Challenges Catalog?
Angel Dust and King for a Day expand upon the handful of example challenges presented in The Real Thing RPG. They even allow for the rapid generation of NPCs and challenges using the new Factions system. That said, we would love to create and publish a more thorough and diverse set of challenges that Narrators can slide into stories with little or no prep.
Adventure Starters?
While The Real Thing is primarily for modern-era stories, there is no reason it can't be used to tell other stories. We've got a lot of ideas for story hooks, and we want to include some of them in the new books.
Okay, so when we say "man", we mean we're only mortal. We don't deserve any of this, and we are both talented and flawed. That said, we have brought on some really amazing people to help us power through this project. Please go and support them in the same way you are supporting us.
Jason Ward Ward is an entrepreneur with a background in the social sciences. He's been designing games for a couple of years and is the original creator of The Real Thing RPG. For this project, he is one of the writers, the layout designer, the project manager, and a catch-all for the random stuff that has to get done along the way.
Peercy is a multi-disciplinary creative specializing in digital experiences. He has a deep history of writing and running RPGs, and he is one of the lead writers on The Real Thing RPG. For this project, Peercy is writing, video editing, and leading testing and iteration.
James Mosingo James is an art director in the video game industry and has several awesome gaming projects under his belt. James has been part of the Real Thing RPG team since day one, helping us to design the visual material in the first book as a partner and art director. For this project, James worked on the cover art, dice, and a few other pieces along the way.
Teresa Guido Teresa is an Italian artist with works appearing all over the published world. She has credits in Paizo's work, among other things! Teresa has been working primarily on the interstitial and scene art for Angel Dust and King for a Day.
Jarret Katz Jarret is a comic book and concept artist with a long history of publications and gaming work. For Angel Dust and King for a Day, he is focused on character art and interstitial elements.
Here's where we talk about the timeline! Here's what we anticipate:
November 2023 - Angel Dust writing and artwork completed
January 2024 - King for a Day writing and artwork completed
March 2024 - Editing for both books completed
June 2024 - Printing and production completed
July 2024 - Shipping (could take up to 60 days for international)
We believe that is a realistic plan. It took us about 10 months to fulfill the first book and products last year. There is a bit more work to do this time around since there are two books. That said, we are better at this stuff now! So, 12 months seems reasonable. What we cannot control are delays related to printing, material shortages, and fulfillment issues. We'll do our best to communicate any delays that arise, just like last campaign.
Shipping
We'll be working with World of Game Design to do our fulfillment this time around. With them, we'll be getting a great deal on packing and handling, along with excellent shipping rates. At this time, we have some estimates on how much shipping will be, but they are subject to change.
Shipping will be collected separately as we get closer to fulfillment. For now, however, here is a rough guideline on what we think shipping will cost. One thing to note... these prices do not go up overly much if you add more stuff. So, whether you order just one copy of each book or you order everything, the shipping price will not vary much.
