It’s been a while since we’ve posted but this time, we’re sharing something really cool! While we had our hands full here in Singapore with Tablecon Quest 2024, our awesome new correspondent Nick was over at Origins Game Fair in Ohio!
He got the chance to catch up with a few of the exhibitors and have a chat with them about some of the cool things they have in the works. One of them was the prolific Dillon Olney, who runs the excellent Critical Crafting Patreon creating original content for D&D 5E.
Nick Porterfield: Hey there everyone. This is Nick with the Neo Tokyo Project, and we are here with Dillon Olney from Critical Crafting. How are you today, Dillon?
Dillon: I’m doing great, thanks for having me.
This is your first time at Origins as an exhibitor, but through your writing, you’ve been featured here before through the various other creators you’ve collaborated with. Tell us a bit about yourself and Critical Crafting.
D: I got into the industry professionally around 2018. I graduated with a sculpture degree but worked in insurance for five years before joining the Lost Adventures Company as a creative director. Eventually, I decided to start my own company, Critical Crafting, in 2021. We create unique content for 5e including creatures, encounters, adventures, spells, items and more, aiming to bring more creativity to the game. Our team is small, consisting of me, my buddy Cameron, his brother Connor, and my wife, Sarah. We have a Patreon with over 1700 pages of content, putting out 30 to 80 pages every month.
Sounds like you’re very busy! Here at the show, you’re showcasing some books and have a Kickstarter going on. Can you tell us about the three books and the Kickstarter?
D: The first book, “Ol’ Chap, Ettercap’s Dino Safari,” features our mascot and places you on an island hunting dinosaurs for Ol’ Chap’s collection. Like all our releases, it includes encounters, a full adventure, a player race, class, items, spells, stat blocks, maps, feats, deficiencies and more! We love new mechanics like deficiencies that allow for a bonus feat. For example: Maybe you take a deficiency that your character is aquaphobic, so anytime you are in or around water, you have disadvantage on skills checks but by taking that deficiency, now you can take a bonus feat to balance things out – It’s there to make taking feats more appealing to players, while also making characters more 3-Dimensional.
The second book, “The Edge of Nowhere,” is a Wild West-themed adventure with creative elements like a locomotive golem and a cactus dragon.
The third book, “The Edyn Expedition,” explores an Underdark-like setting with terrifying creatures, including the torpid dragon, or “Big Chungus,” a dragon that grows incredibly fat from eating it can’t leave its cave.
Our Kickstarter, “The Mage’s War,” is a high magic vs. high-tech supplement for 5e. It includes encounters, subclasses, races, items, spells, and new mechanics like warps (science spells), grafting (body modifications), sigils (rune enhancements), and monster templates… and more we put tons into all our stuff. The central conflict is between the technocratic Order of the Blank, who hates magic, and the Arcanuum, a secretive society of spellcasters. Both factions have their moral ambiguities, and the book explores their complex dynamics. It’s about 180 pages, combining three of our Patreon releases, and we already have the physical book ready, aiming to fund printing and additional content through Kickstarter.
What’s your main goal outside of the funds to produce the book?
D: Something a lot of people don’t know about Kickstarter is that unless your project goes viral, you won’t make nearly as much money as the page makes it look like, so this isn’t about the money, outside of making sure we secure the necessary funds to get the books made. Our primary goal is to put the book and our name out there, gaining credibility and recognition in the industry. We want to market our product, grow our fanbase, and show that we can run a successful Kickstarter. It’s also about building a community and sharing our cool content with people.
Once the Kickstarter is over and you’ve met your goals, are you planning to sell the book through an online store or physical retailers?
D: Yes, we’ll sell it on our website and are talking with some brick-and-mortar stores to get the books into more hands. We’re hopeful to figure out some deals with stores in Fort Wayne, Columbus, and other nearby cities.
A couple of fun questions to end on. What’s your favorite piece of content in “The Mages War” Kickstarter?
D: My favorite is the Blank Mage Slayer, which introduced a mechanic where it deals additional damage to any creature that can cast spells or has magical abilities. It caused some controversy within our community, but it was designed to be a specific challenge for spellcasters who generally, once you reach mid-level especially, become very difficult to deal with. We even added a caveat in the book to consider the party composition before using it – Maybe don’t throw one at your party if it consists of mostly spell casters!
Where can people go to learn more about your Kickstarter or other works?
D: You can visit our website at www.critical-crafting.com. It’s our hub for everything, including the Kickstarter, Discord group, social media, and store. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
Is there anything you’d like to say to your supporters?
D: Absolutely. I want to thank all our supporters. We’ve had so much help and support, either financially or through advice, and we couldn’t have done it without you. I appreciate it so much.
Thank you for your time, Dillon. Good luck with the Kickstarter, and I hope the rest of Origins goes well for you.
D: Thanks, Nick. Great talking with you. Please check out “The Mage’s War,” – On Kickstarter Now!
If you’re interested in Dillon’s work, you can still late pledge for his Kickstarter here! We’ll be testing some of those mechanics out in our homebrew games for sure. You can also learn more about Critical Crafting and pick up previously-released work from his website.
We’re always super excited to have the chance to support and feature community creators like Dillon, so be sure to take a look at what he and his team have been cooking up!
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