About this project

Crowfall is a new Massively Multiplayer Online Game brought to you by Gordon Walton (Executive Producer of Ultima Online,The Sims Online, Star Wars: Galaxies and Star Wars: the Old Republic) and J. Todd Coleman (Creative Director of Shadowbane, Wizard101 and Pirate101).

A seamless blend of an MMO with a large-scale Strategy game!

Players control the universe, to shape as they see fit. We call it a Throne War Simulator, and it’s different in three fundamental ways:

Eternal Heroes, Dying Worlds.

Characters are persistent, but the Campaign Worlds are not. Players are Immortal Champions, traveling between realms to fight in an eternal War of the Gods.

Each Campaign World is a server or "realm". It exists for a limited time – typically 1 to 3 months -- or until some win condition is met.

During this time, the World will change. Each Campaign has four stages: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

With each passing season, the World grows more deadly as the land is consumed by an unstoppable legion of undead -- The Hunger.

At the end of Winter, the Campaign is over. A victor is declared, the map is wiped and that World goes offline forever...

...but the characters are NEVER wiped. Instead, the participants take their winnings back home to the Eternal Kingdoms, to prepare and strategize for the next Campaign.

Everything Changes and That Changes Everything.

The Worlds are made of voxels (like Minecraft, only much less blocky) – which means the entire World is destructible. We are harnessing VoxelFarm technology to generate an endless succession of unique and interesting Campaign Worlds for you to mine, shape, conquer and destroy.

Our Campaign maps are procedurally generated -- meaning that we automate the process of creating every mountain, forest, river, castle and abandoned village. Each World is different, which means that the game of territorial conquest will be different in every Campaign.

The beginning of each Campaign is like the first round of Civilization: players are dropped into a harsh environment, surrounded by Fog-of-War. The Worlds are filled with deadly monsters, haunted ruins, abandoned quarries... and the most dangerous predator of all, other players.

Craft weapons, scavenge armor, secure a stronghold, forge alliances and conquer the World.

Allies. Enemies. Empires. Betrayal. Risk. Conquest.

There are two types of Worlds in the Crowfall universe: the Campaign Worlds, which produce materials (stone, iron and wood) and the Eternal Kingdoms, which are barren of resources -- but last forever.

If each Campaign is like a soccer match, the Eternal Kingdoms encompass the entire season! Unlike the Campaigns, these Worlds are permanent -- and they are completely managed and owned by the players.

Players act as rulers -- they can divide up their domains into provinces and grant those lands to other players. Benevolent monarch or iron-fisted tyrant, what kind of kingdom will you rule?

The Eternal Kingdom can be massive -- with mountains and rivers, castles and villages, dungeons and ruins. They are also devoid of resources: stone, iron and wood.

To gain the resources necessary to build structures and craft items, players will have to participate in Campaigns... or treat with those who do.

Since each Campaign World is unique (and time-limited) we can change the rules of the game from one to the next!

What rules? Things like…

Which races can participate in this Campaign?
What is this Campaign’s duration or end-condition?
How are the teams broken up? Is this a War of the Gods? Guild-versus-Guild? Free-for-All?
What resources can be scavenged? How abundant are they? How harsh is the game of survival?
What are the rules for death and respawning? Do items decay on death? Can I loot the corpses of other players?

The Worlds of Crowfall are divided up into discrete zones, and each one circles around the Hunger. The closer a World is to the center, the greater the risk -- and the higher the reward!

Each Campaign will be different. You (and your guild) can decide which style is right for you. If you change your mind, you can always try a different Campaign... with a fresh start, every time.

These player-owned and player-managed kingdoms are the only permanent (non-time limited) Worlds. They are complete, functional Worlds - but lack resource factories (such as quarries, mines and mills) and produce only common reagents. Players rule these Home Worlds as Monarchs and can grant land and titles to other players in exchange for oaths of fealty. Levy taxes, enforce trade restrictions, and set the PvP rules within your domain.

The proving grounds for Order, Balance, and Chaos. Players join one of three divine Factions and battle for control of the World. The goal for Order and Chaos is to capture as much territory as possible before the World is destroyed. The goal for Balance is to ensure there in no clear victor between Order and Chaos.

These Worlds are more deadly and the stakes are higher. The alliances of the Gods hold no sway here. The followers of the twelve Gods vie individually for the Throne.

The Shadow Worlds lie closer to the Hunger, where even the Gods dare not tread. On these Worlds it's Guild vs Guild competition for the abundance of resources and rich cache of souls.

On the razor-thin edge of the Hunger lies the Dregs... Worlds utterly drained of warmth, about to shatter into dust. Alliances between Guilds are weak and brittle. These every-man-for-himself Worlds are deadly and unforgiving - yet they yield the greatest reward for those who can survive.

You are an immortal Champion of the Gods. Campaigns come and go, but your heroes will live on -- and continue to advance, from one Campaign to the next.

Heroes are created using a deep character customization system, with user-selected Advantages and Disadvantages.

Start with a base archetype (such as a Knight) and add advantages (such as "eagle eye", which increases archery skill) and disadvantages (such as "weak heart", which decreases endurance -- but frees up points to spend elsewhere).

You can create and manage multiple characters and participate in multiple Campaigns at once -- each with unique powers, skills and resources!

Each hero archetype represents a core role and play-style. For instance, certain heroes will be extremely effective in combat situations while others excel at crafting and resource management.

Though each role is initially balanced for distinct specializations, players will have MANY ways to customize their hero's stats, appearance, abilities and gear!

As characters grow they can collect up to three Disciplines, which are sub-classes such as archery, blacksmithing, or bounty hunting. Disciplines can dramatically alter and enhance a character's skills and capabilities.

Our goal for this Kickstarter is to fund the core module of Crowfall.

How many games can you play with a standard deck of cards? Poker, Blackjack, Bridge – the variety is endless. Think of the core module like our baseline deck of cards. This is the foundation of the game, on which all the variant rules sets can be built.

Much of the core module work has already been done; we are looking to the community to help us finish it. Specifically, we will use these funds to build:

* The core module is estimated to be delivered by Winter 2016. First release (with partial functionality) will begin alpha testing in late Summer 2015.