Monsters of Murka is a hilarious new campaign setting for fifth edition DND full of comical monsters, detailed maps, parodical mayhem, and political satire! This campaign setting includes adventures for first to tenth level characters.
We were successfully funded on Kickstarter in June 2019, and we're stoked to share everything we're creating with you!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
WE'RE SO CLOSE. LIKE. SOOO CLOSE.
almost 5 years ago
– Sat, Jun 08, 2019 at 12:59:27 AM
$11,827?! WHAAAAT??!!
You guys ROCK! We're literally just $200 shy of our goal, which means Monsters of Murka is COMING TO YOU! Words don't do it justice, how excited we are. I'm headed home from the office to have a sit-down with CJ, my brother and the other major contributing mind to the world of Murka, so we can start brainstorming how we're gonna go about sharing all the righteous goodness with you all!
I also wanted to talk about what comes next for the Murka book. All of our backers have received their 40-page preview books, and within that book they discovered our detailed dungeon map for The Pale Fortress, which is a three-floor dungeon stylized as a parody of the White House. Here's a sneak peek at what that looks like:
The Second Floor of The Pale Fortress
This dungeon map was one I put together in my free time (though I must have spent at least 20 hours on it). It's a fun map, it's a beautiful map, and it's one I'm really proud of. We also have the amazing work from Daniel's Maps, who created our world map:
It's so beautiful, I could cry.
His work breathed life into the sprawling world of Murka, beyond what's even seen in the 40-page preview or the Kickstarter sneak peeks! I'm in love with this map, I really am. Maps are beautiful.
Which is why I'm so stoked to announce our next stretch goal: MORE MAPS.
At $25,000, we'll add maps for EVERY CITY that's unlocked during the campaign. These maps will include not only a bird's-eye-view of the city, and not only details about specific locations like landmarks or specialized shops and locations, but ALSO playable maps for those specific locations! That means, if your players decide to up and start a bar fight in their local Owlbear Wild Wings, you, as the Dungeon Master, won't have to go searching for a generic bar map and give them some imaginary fluff about the magic screens displaying the latest and greatest Sportsball game - you can just pull out the Owlbear Wildwings Battlemap and let them have at it!
Thank you guys SO MUCH. Keep telling your friends about this campaign! Show them this beautiful video of us eating fish pizza.
24-hour Livestream was a smashing success! Also I ate fish pizza.
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jun 05, 2019 at 09:17:35 AM
We raised $2,000 dollars in our 24-hour livestream!
This was such an intense and amazingly fun experience. CJ Thomas, Maddy Goshorn, Brad Roberts and I had SO much fun showcasing some Monsters of Murka content for you guys. Also we had to eat some fish pizza, which was a terrible experience. BUT NOW WE'RE MORE THAN 50% FUNDED.
Folks who watched the stream got to see Terry Crews and Mackelmore team up to bring about the 5th Edition of the Ancient Holy Texts (which was one of the most meta campaigns I've ever run). This one was the one I DM'd, as a first-level campaign in Sea-Addled (our high-fantasy parody of Seattle). Tons of awesome puzzles for the party.
Our second campaign was DM'd by Brad, and it featured Tom Cruise, Betty White, and Gordon Ramsey working together to take down a mysterious evil overlord (here's a hint: he loves cheese) who was taking over the history of Holly Woods, our high-fantasy parody of Los Angeles. Playing Tom Cruise was SO MUCH FUN, and Maddy's interpretation of Betty White was AMAZING. Also, Brad totally killed it with this storyline, what a blast.
Our third and final campaign was from CJ, and he took us to Washtown, the bread-and-butter location of Monsters of Murka. This campaign was an AWESOME dungeon crawl featuring Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mark Zuckerberg, who made for a REALLY interesting team. We were all getting ridiculously tired by this point, so a collective apology to CJ for us being 100% ridiculous and difficult to DM, haha. The puzzles here were amazing, and some of this had to be cut down because we actually ran out of time. I guess the next stream will have to be even longer (just kidding, we almost died from being so tired).
You might be wondering why Brad and I are making this face. That's because that pizza was sinful. That was an anchovy, mushroom, and black-olive pizza, served hot. We had made a deal with folks who watched the stream that if we broke 5k, Brad would eat a dreaded anchovy pizza. He really, REALLY didn't want to do that, so I offered to eat a piece as well. I regret that.
We actually wound up raising well over the goal, and with every additional milestone that we raised, the pizza got more and more gross. You can watch the clips of us eating the pizza here and here. It was awful.
And a special thanks to one of the raddest streamers out there, DoRaeMe, who raided us early in the stream and got some of our major watchers (like TwoNeurons) to tune in! If you like watching kick-ass VR/Beatsaber content with the occasional Twitch Sings stream, she is the streamer for you. To be honest, she's probably the streamer for you anyway because her work is awesome.
Thank you guys SO much for participating in this Kickstarter, and in this stream. This was such an amazing experience, and while I'm super tired and drained and not interested in doing it again anytime soon (I like sleep too much), you guys really made this a fun experience.
We're LIVE on Twitch for the next 24 hours!
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jun 05, 2019 at 03:51:05 AM
24-Hour Livestream Begins NOW!
Hey, guys! We're livestreaming Monsters of Murka for the next 24-hours! Come check us out at www.twitch.tv/JaronRMJohnson and watch us travel from Seattle to L.A. to Washington D.C.!
CJ and I met Maddy years ago, at a camp in Highview, West Virginia called Camp Sandy Cove (which unfortunately shut down recently). The three of us became quick friends, primarily because we were all goofy and ridiculous. I could include any number of inside jokes in this email, but none of them would REALLY accurately capture the magic of the months and months we spent together at those campgrounds.
One summer, CJ and I had both been dealt a particularly rough set of cards. Down on our luck, we looked to camp as a place of escapism. We spent months at the camp, and as the end of summer drew near, we dreaded the idea of returning to small-town Ohio, to our same lives, to our same problems. When CJ brought this up to the head of the camp, he presented us with this AMAZING nugget of wisdom, whose simplicity blew our tiny teenage minds:
"If you don't want to go back to Ohio... Why are you going back to Ohio?"
Well... huh. Touche.
So, CJ and I decided that we'd move. We spoke with friends of ours who lived in Virginia, and lo and behold, Maddy was one of them. We united as friends and decided that the three of us would live together in Virginia, like a broke version of the Three Musketeers, sans-mustaches.
Fast-forward a few months, and we've got the classic roommate relationship: Sometimes we played games, sometimes we talked about deep life stuff (I have this BEAUTIFUL memory of Maddy and I sitting on a couch in our basement and Maddy being emotional and feeling guilty about something that was pretty silly at the time, and in hindsight it's just a quintessential Growing-Up Friendship moment and I love it).
Sometimes we'd argue about dishes and trash. Sometimes our work schedules meant that we wouldn't see each other for weeks. I was working nights at the time, so I was going to bed right around the time Maddy was getting up for work, and there were a lot of moments where Maddy would see me on her way out the door and say, "That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous!" while laughing to herself.
After several years in Virginia, we had parted ways. CJ moved back to Ohio, Maddy moved on because she had an awesome career opportunity, and I stayed in Virginia for another year or two before I moved back to Ohio as well (but to Columbus, which is infinitely better than small-town Ohio).
When Sandy Cove shut down, we met up again at a sort of farewell ceremony, and we reminisced on our time together as roomies, and we all agreed that the good far outweighed the bad. And we also agreed that, since we didn't have camp to hold us together anymore, we would have to try a little harder to stay friends.
Maddy became a voice actress (and an INCREDIBLY good one). She landed some REALLY awesome roles, like the leader of the Wildlanders in War Party. When CJ and I began work on the Monsters of Murka Kickstarter video, we needed someone to voice a gross little monster called a trumplin. Who better to voice that than Maddy? And she absolutely KILLED it.
She's been a huge help - so please check out her website and give her some well earned props!
PaizoCon Complete! What a blast! Here's a status update on Murka. :)
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, May 27, 2019 at 04:08:32 PM
Before we get too far into this update, do you like Twitch streams?
Because we're doing a 24-hour Twitch stream of Monsters of Murka in ONE WEEK, on June 3rd! We'll be traveling to Sea Addled (our high-fantasy parody of Seattle), Holly Woods (our high-fantasy parody of Los Angeles), and end our night with a mission set in Washtown (our high-fantasy parody of Washington D.C.)!
Head over to my Twitch channel and give it a follow so you don't miss the upcoming stream!
PaizoCon 2019 was awesome. Here's why.
We just wrapped up our PaizoCon2019 con attendance, and man, it was a blast. Pathfinder has always been our preferred game, but seeing the direction they're going in for Pathfinder Second Edition was even cooler.
CJ got a little sick, but that's okay. He's a real trooper. Here's a photo of when he was feeling MUCH better, since he doesn't want me to take a photo of him while he's sniffling up a storm.
I wanted to also include in this update that we've been making GREAT progress on Monsters of Murka! We're waiting on a new batch of stuff from our artist, but here's a sneak peek at some neat stuff.
Mark Zuckerberg as a reptillian sorcerer? Yes please.
Robert Mueller and the Sword of Truth
Queen Beyonce as a Glamour Bard? YES PLEASE!
Finally, I wanted to say that while we're nearly 30% funded before even one week, we always need your help! If you haven't yet, please consider sharing this campaign on Twitter or Facebook! If you liked this campaign, chances are pretty good that your friends will like it, too. :) If you're not sure what to say on social media, here's a neat little copy-paste post for you.
Hey, guys! I backed Monsters of Murka on Kickstarter because it's SERIOUSLY funny. If you play DnD or have an interest in seeing a Donald Trump-esque monster overthrown from his position of power, check out www.MonstersofMurka.com! #dnd #dnd5e #ttrpg
If you're interested in play-by-play updates, you can always follow me on Twitter or check out our Facebook page! And, if you ever want to talk to the creators and writers (or even just other fans), consider joining our Discord!
Thank you guys all so much, from the bottom of my heart. You RULE for making this project possible and for believing in it.
