D&D: Harper’s Tale Teaches Us All A Little Something About Heroes
One child’s fight against Leukemia has turned into a campaign to benefit children with cancer throughout the world–a D&D campaign you won’t want to miss.
Normally the heroes in Dungeons and Dragons are confined to the pages of character sheet or adventures, but earlier this year, when a game designer’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, a community of creatives stepped up to show that the real heroes of D&D are the people that make up the community. Now you can join them in a fight to benefit Friends of Kids with Cancer, an organization devoted to enriching the daily lives of children undergoing treatment for, and survivors of, cancer and blood-related diseases. Friends of Kids with Cancer helps to provide educational, emotional, and recreational support for children during their treatments.
It all starts with Matt Corley, the game designer behind Saturday Morning Scenarios, whose youngest daughter, Harper, was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year. After a member of Friends of Kids with Cancer gave Harper her first good day in the long process, Corley and his daughter were determined to give back. Now they have gathered together a team of talented writers and artists from throughout the D&D community including Dyson Logos (whose maps you love whether you know it or not), Ashley Warren (who brought you the Uncaged Anthology among other works), and a host of others–and all of these folks will be creating Harper’s Tale. Harper’s Tale is a set of ten linked adventures that will take heroes from levels 1-10 and depicts everything you’d want. Sacrifice, perseverance, redemption, an evil druid. Take a look.
Harper’s Tale is an epic story of sacrifice, perseverance, and redemption. The heroes will investigate, battle, and learn the true origins of the threat to their home. The adventure is based on an outline my daughter, Harper, and I wrote after coming home from the hospital after her first round of chemotherapy treatment for leukemia.
All net proceeds from the crowdfunding campaign will be donated to benefit Friends of Kids with Cancer to help others like Harper who are battling cancer.
That’s where Harper’s Tale comes in.
On February 2nd, 2019, my youngest daughter, Harper, was diagnosed with leukemia. The next few days were hard. Two days after diagnosis, while sitting in bed, Kelly from Child Services came in with a gift card from Friends of Kids with Cancer. Harper immediately perked up, and within 15 minutes she’d sent me out of the hospital to spend that money!! Friends of Kids with Cancer gave us our First Good Day. Harp is in remission and we want to give back some of what they’ve given us.
Harper is a gamer; she’s in Tales of the Margreve (Kobold Press) with her sister, Ghoul Island (Petersen Games), and she plays D&D and loves to write stories. It only makes sense that we write a D&D adventure book together and to use it as a platform to raise funds Friends of Kids. This project began as a conversation in the hospital, turned into an outline after she was discharged, and is now an amazing book that we’re all so proud of.
Joining Harper and I are an elite team of creators including: Jeff Stevens, Ben McFarland, Brian Suskind, Hannah Rose, Ashley Warren, Kienna Shaw, Bill Barnett, MT Black, Donathin Frye, Anna Landin, Gwendy B, Anna Meyer, Dyson Logos, Jessica Ross, and others! Kobold Press and Petersen Games also pitched in to us bring this to life.
The adventure, fittingly, has a focus on healing and recovery. Players will start in the Village of Grove, where they learn a mysterious illness has afflicted the entire town and only two women, Rose and Grace, are left to care for the beleaguered town. As heroes search for the source of the illness, they are drawn into a wider plot that takes them from levels 1-10 and into the dark recesses of the Primordial Wood.
There are a ton of cool people working on this game, you won’t want to miss this adventure–it’s a great cause and a great adventure. What more could you want? You can check out the campaign and the first adventure below!
Check out Welcome to Grove, the first step in this adventure
Support Harper’s Tale
Happy Adventuring!
