Dark Age of Theer Promises ‘ProgCore Fantasy’ for 5E and Beyond
A Kickstarter campaign for the Dark Age of Theer cooks up a new term: ProgCore. In a Rush to figure out what that means?
What is Prog. What a question. And yet, one whose answer is now strangely tied with D&D. Because a Kickstarter from Todd Stashwick of Picard and that one episode of Supernatural fame, titled Dark Age of Theer, promises to explore that very question through “ProgCore Fantasy.”
Now, what *is* ProgCore, you might be wondering? Because Progressive (or Prog) Rock might use a lot of fantasy imagery, but what does it mean? Is it more cosmic? Psychedelic?
Well, there’s one way to find out.
Dark Age of Theer: ProgCore Fantasy
Here’s ProgCore fantasy in a nutshell, courtesy of Todd Stashwick and Jason Charles Miller.
From the Kickstarter, we learn that ProgCore is somewhere between the ’70s and ’80s aesthetic. A little Rankin & Bass, a little Heavy Metal (the magazine, not the music genre, but I guess the music too), it is what the Kickstarter describes as “intimate fantasy.”
ProgCore Fantasy is a style of play, a group of univseral mechanics and house rules, an agreement between players and game masters, that focuses on recapturing those breathless moments of early play. It’s about intimate, ephemeral experiences for players and characters alike. It’s about how you feel when you’re playing the games you love. ProgCore Fantasy is system-agnostic: it does not ask you to learn a new game, or switch from the game you love, only that you agree to pursue the Three Pillars of ProgCore Fantasy: Wonder, Mystery, and Danger.
The ProgCore Fantasy style is grounded in the intimate fantasy of the 1970s and 1980s: movies like Rankin & Bass’s The Hobbit, Dragonslayer, Legend, Labyrinth, Ladyhawke, and more; books by Tolkien, LeGuin, Zelazny, Leiber, and others; the music of Yes, Styx, King Crimson, Queen, Rush, and others; the art of the Hildebrandts, Michael Whelan, Alicia Austin, Erol Otus, Roger Dean, Bob Eggleton, and others. We see ProgCore Fantasy as an opportunity to take what’s beautiful from this golden age of fantasy art and media, discard the systemic prejudices endemic to the era, and use it to tell stories from myriad perspectives. We’re putting new wine in old bottles.
But the Kickstarter is for more than just a “system agnostic guidebook” with a D&D “conversion guide”, it’s a sprawling multimedia project as well:
- System Agnostic Sourcebook that can be paired with any Fantasy TTRPG or simply enjoyed for the stories and art within (with D&D5e conversion)
- Documentary Style Actual Play with exciting performers
- Animated Short, set in the Dark Age of Theer
- Soundtrack Album with original music in the ProgCore style
- Plus, opportunities for exciting stretch-goals and add-ons, including
- an Audiobook of the stories from the sourcebook
- a Custom Scented Candle from Cantrip Candles
- ProgCore hats from Delvingwood
- a Vinyl Record of the ProgCore Soundtrack
- limited ProgCore T-Shirts
- PDF Adventures
- additional RPG conversions
- and more
