Coyote And Crow – A Native American Led Project Is The Next Million-Dollar RPG
Coyote and Crow, a Native-American-led tabletop rpg set in a future where the Americas were never colonized, has raised more than one million dollars.
One of the best things about crowdfunding is the access it provides to creators of all identities to the audience that they know is out there. And nowhere is that more visible than in the case of Coyote and Crow, an upcoming new sci-fi rpg set in an uncolonized world. Created and led by a team of Native Americans who collectively represent more than a dozen tribes, Coyote and Crow breaks new ground for RPGs.
According to lead designer, Connor Alexander, Coyote & Crow is a world stripped clean of its colonial baggage. Why create an uncolonized world? Alexander explains that he wants to create a safe space for Native and non-Native players alike to find a world they can explore together.
As Connor explained in an interview with Polygon:
“No living culture can claim Cahokia as direct descendants at this point.”
So what is the world of Coyote and Crow? It is set in the city of Cahokia, a bustling, diverse metropolis along the Mississippi River, where science and spirituality and mythic history and progressive future collide. It’s also a real-life world heritage site, the remains of a city that, in the 1300s was at least as big as London was at the time. Though the original inhabitants vanished long before the first settlers arrived from Europe, it is a site of considerable significance, and it is the basis for Coyote & Crow. Though the Kickstarter has officially ended, you can still make a late pledge and back this amazing game, gaining access to stretch goals, backer updates, and more.
Check it out.
More than 700 years ago, a bright purple streak shot across the night sky. Over the coming weeks, the Earth fell into a deep winter, the seas raged and ash rained from the sky. The event became known as the Awis. As resources dwindled, winter became longer and summer shorter, people struggled to survive. Wars erupted, people starved, some fleeing their ancestral homes before creeping ice sheets.
But people survived. Tribes adapted. And in the wake, people began to notice a strange purple mark appearing on people, plants and animals alike. It became known as the Adahnehdi, the Gift, and many took it as a sign that the Great Spirit had not given up on them.
Eventually, the weather began to ease, the Earth began to heal, and new nations arose. New sciences and technologies, born out of necessity, led to a discovery about the Adahnehdi. It wasn’t just a mark, it was a path to abilities and powers, beyond normal human limits.
ow, 700 years after the world was brought to the brink, a new chapter has begun. Your characters enter a world that is healing but is no less dangerous. The ice sheets are retreating and the seas are calming, but what lay out beyond your borders? The treaties and alliances that made so much sense during the long winters are now eroding and old grudges between nations are not so easily forgotten. New technologies arise almost every day and the rate of change is frightening for some. And then there are the stories. Talk of spirits, monsters, beings of legend. For so many they were just tales to be told around the fire. But now there is talk that these legends may be far more literal than you may have previously believed. Has something awakened them?
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Coyote and Crow uses its own d12-centered system, that is built to handle a variety of situations. As they point out, combat “is only one road to story resolution, the game encourages dialogue, building bridges, and finding unique solutions to problems that are not always clearly defined by good and evil.”
You’ll have powers beyond mortal ken, of course, supported by a fairly robust system designed to help flesh out characters and build connections to the world. The game is set for delivery in December 2021, and you can back it by following the link below.
Back Coyote and Crow Today
