Pinoy-made tabletop RPG ‘ARC’ fulfills Kickstarter funding goal within 23 minutes

ARC, a Pinoy-made tabletop RPG about saving the world from an impending apocalypse, was successfully funded within minutes of its Kickstarter launch.

Created by Filipina game designer and artist Bianca Canoza a.k.a. momatoes, “ARC” fulfilled its $7,000 funding goal 23 minutes after its Kickstarter campaign went live on June 1, 2021.

It unlocked all its content stretch goals in just two hours and within 13 hours it received over $25,000 to unlock all four stretch goals.

As of writing, ARC has attracted around 1,200 backers and accumulated over $50,000 (PHP 2M+) in funding.

This makes ARC one of the most successful Kickstarters for a Pinoy-made—or even Southeast Asian-made—tabletop RPG.

ARC has players racing against a Doomsday Clock to prevent a world-ending catastrophe. Players can expect flexible rules; intense, fast-paced campaigns; and a rulebook boasting gorgeous artwork.

“ARC” will be published by Exalted Funeral. 

Beating the Doomsday Clock

“ARC is a collaborative storytelling game where players create custom hero characters that interact with an imaginary world narrated by a facilitator player called the Guide,” said momatoes.

It tasks heroes with stopping the occurrence of a Doom—a cataclysmic event that’ll destroy the world. The players decide the nature of this Doom. For example, it could be a massive meteor hurtling towards Earth, the unleashing of a curse that’ll turn everyone into a zombie, or an invasion by extradimensional demon kittens. Of course, the Doom could be a smaller event, such as a tragedy that breaks the heroes’ hearts.

"What sets ARC apart from other tabletop RPGs is its use of a “real-life timer that ticks down throughout the game,” said momatoes.

This countdown to destruction, made possible using a stopwatch or timer, is what gives every session a sense of extreme urgency. Players will have to hurry to figure out how to stop the Doom. Furthermore, the failure to resolve certain conflicts can speed the Doom’s arrival.

“How do you save what matters to your hero when so little time remains?” said momatoes.

ARC also lets players enjoy shorter games. While campaigns can be long enough to require multiple sessions spread over many hours of play, 3-hour, single-session campaigns are also possible.

Creating “ARC”

An avid tabletop gamer, momatoes loves how RPGs have players experience “perilous adventures, incredible challenges, and, at the end, that really satisfying feeling of helping save the world.”

Her desire to “bottle that feeling of defiant heroism versus cataclysm” inspired her to create ARC.

Because ARC features a unique, innovative system, momatoes had to build many of the rules from the ground up to ensure they accomplished her main goal: to craft a game whose mechanics inspired a sense of heightened tension.

“In the end, I achieved this by using time itself—how many hours you play, how much time you have left—as an important mechanic.”

Momatoes didn’t just design the game’s rules and mechanics, however. She was also responsible for the rulebook’s art, writing, and layout, as well as the ARC website.

She had help from the ARC team, which consists of editors Jarrett Crader and Fiona Geist, editor and layout artist Dai Shugars, and sensitivity reader Alexander Saify.

“Conceptualizing the art was easy,” said momatoes. “I had an aesthetic in mind that allowed me to create consistent images I was happy with.”

Kickstarter success

Momatoes is happy with the success of the “ARC” Kickstarter campaign, saying “We received so many comments from backers around the world saying how excited and wowed they were about ARC.” 

This success also excites momatoes for a different reason. Thanks to the high level of funding, ARC will now come with three adventure modules showcasing more Filipino talent.

Two are designed by Filipino game designers Pamela Punzalan and BJ Recio, with a third by Shao Han of Singaporean tabletop gaming company Curious Chimera. All three modules will feature artwork by Filipino illustrators Nina Martinez, Benedict “Benedir” Reyna, and Danielle Florendo of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan.

The ARC Kickstarter campaign will run until June 30.

“There’s a cool perk to supporting the Kickstarter now — there’s a hardcover edition that will never be available after it ends,” said momatoes.

All of the ARC Kickstarter’s digital rewards will be available come September, 2021, with print copies to follow in October.

Eventually, digital and physical copies of ARC will also be available through the Exalted Funeral online store and select retailers. — LA, GMA News

ARC website. ARC Kickstarter.