Note: This Crowdfundr concluded on December 1st. Our prequel book was fully funded, along with achieving stretch goals for two additional chapters to round out the backstory and a community goal to include a physical Ashbringer miniature with all print copies of the book. Some rewards will remain available between the end of the campaign and our physical opening, with any additional profit being applied towards funding a parklet on Hawthorne Blvd. to both expand our outdoor seating and let us offer gaming-friendly outdoor options.

Thank you for all the support and we can't wait to see you in person!

A banner containing an image of the cover of The Blooms That Feed on Fire book, TPK Brewing Co. logo, and the words The Blooms That Feed on Fire, A 5e Adventure by Portland's First TTRPG Brewpub on top of a drawing of a burning city.

By backing this Crowdfundr, you'll be helping TPK Brewing Co. bring to life a prequel adventure that will give you a taste of the original setting that players can dive into upon our opening in 2023. Not only does this include the adventure itself, but your support will enable us to provide multiple special beer releases, original recipes for the homebrewers out there, and a book release party where you can experience local fan-favorite professional actors testing their mettle against the Ashbringer herself.

What is TPK Brewing Co.?

TPK Brewing Co. is a craft brewery and public house with a geeky twist! In addition to being your newest, family-friendly neighborhood tavern in Portland, Oregon, we will have a full-time staff of professional Game Masters running various tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) for our patrons. Board game cafes have revolutionized how and where we play board games. We want to bring the revolution to roleplaying games by serving our guests original story content and thematic beer releases.

We are in the process of renovating the Tabor Bread building at 5051 SE Hawthorne Boulevard and aim to open our doors in the Spring of 2023.

A photograph of a woman pointing at the architectural drawings being used for the permitting process.

How does a tabletop roleplaying brewpub actually work?

We plan to launch with multiple gaming options, all of which will be available with private, semi-private, or public seating to ensure players feel comfortable.

The Leyfarer's Chronicle is TPK's flagship experience set in our original world of Val'Ruvina, and it's so cool that it gets its own section below!
We will have classes and small groups aimed at the die-curious, exploring some of the most popular roleplaying rulesets so you can get a feel for the hobby. These will be structured to either get you up to speed to then join our recurring campaign The Leyfarer's Chronicle, or to play your ruleset of choice with your own group.
Our Game Masters will be available to book to run your group through any of our supported rulesets with any officially published campaign you'd like. This could be anything from a one session adventure to a recurring long-running game of your choice.
We will make our gaming tables available for reservations when not in use by our Game Masters. You're always welcome to bring and play games in our space, but booking ahead will let you ensure you have the space when you need it.

What is Val'Ruvina and what is The Leyfarer's Chronicle?

Val'Ruvina is our original, post-cataclysmic fantasy setting where the players (the Leyfarers) are tasked with exploring and documenting the changed world. Everything we produce will be fully original, OGL 5e-compatible with a heavy emphasis on exploration, hidden dangers, lost history, and broken magic. Aside from this first book, The Blooms That Feed on Fire, all of the stories told in Val'Ruvina will first be experienced locally in our tavern, and will be published at a later date to reach a wider audience.

The Leyfarer's Chronicle is our own take on league style play, an in-person campaign where multiple groups of player characters will be exploring the world of Val'Ruvina simultaneously with our Game Masters. You'll be able to subscribe to each chapter either as a group or as a single player (where you’ll then be matched with a group). The chapter will include five bi-weekly, four-hour sessions followed by an exciting finale event that will bring individual groups together to make decisions that will alter the world and change the course of the story going forward. Each chapter also features two limited beer releases to pair with key story moments. And of course the finale event will be a party where you can celebrate your victories (or drink off your failures). Since the story is fully original and always evolving in real time, The Leyfarer's Chronicle is perfect for both new players to jump in and longtime veteran players who are looking for something fresh.

Subscriptions to The Leyfarer's Chronicle are limited and this campaign is currently the only way to register for our first chapter, so sign up soon to reserve your seat!

And for those Leyfarers looking to meet up more than twice a month, we'll also have one-time quests available from our in-house quest board, along with fragments of greater mysteries scattered throughout the game world that can only be solved with the collaboration of other players.

Mockup of multiple pages from The Blooms That Feed on Fire, featuring The Ashbringer's army and in-game stats for her colossuses.

What is The Blooms That Feed on Fire?

Oh, they were always afraid of me, you know. Even before they called me Ashbringer. They sent armies to try and stop me. And then they sent assassins. And now they've sent you... heroes. Which of your ideals are you willing to die for? Because if the fire of your convictions burns weakly, then the fires of mine will consume you like everything else. Now ready yourselves, this is for the fate of Val'Ruvina.

The Blooms That Feed on Fire is a self-contained, original roleplaying adventure, fully compatible with the 5e ruleset, that takes place in our setting of Val'Ruvina. This is the same world that the Leyfarers will be exploring when we open, but before the cataclysm that left it in its current state. You can either play through the events that led up to eruption of the leylines yourself, or watch them unfold live during our book launch party.

We are currently planning a 32-page book, which includes the titular adventure, a player's guide to the world, new magic items, new monsters, and two homebrew beer recipes (with recommended commercial alternatives) to replicate the full tavern experience at home. That said, we do have some pretty exciting local ENNIE Award-winning authors interested in bringing to life additional narratives via stretch goals...

Stretch goals, you say?

Well, we didn't expect to need these three days in, but here we are. First of all: thank you, thank you, thank you. You blew our crowdfunding expectations out of the water and we are forever grateful. Now on to the fun stuff!

Tier 1: UNLOCKED!
- If we hit this goal, an additional chapter will be added to The Blooms That Feed on Fire by ENNIE award-winning designers M Ebel (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, One Night Strahd) and Jake Kurzer (One Night Strahd). The once-golden fey city of Dayspring now serves as the Ashbringer's stronghold, but its secrets may yet hold the key to winning the war. This additional adventure is expected to add 8 pages to the book and will be available at no additional charge for anyone who selected the book as a reward (digital or physical).
Tier 2: UNLOCKED!
- If we hit this goal, a final chapter will be added to The Blooms That Feed on Fire by 2x ENNIE-nominated designer Kristina Sisto Kindel (Uncaged Vol. 1, Book of Seasons). Conflicting rumors reach Karsan that the Ashbringer has been reconstructing a forbidden ritual, but determining who to trust will be a matter of life and death. This additional adventure is expected to add 8 pages to the book and will be available at no additional charge for anyone who selected the book as a reward (digital or physical).
Tier 3: Unlocked at $50,000
- Any contributions beyond the $30,000 mark will be applied towards opening a parklet on Hawthorne Blvd. to both expand our outdoor seating and let us offer gaming-friendly outdoor options. If the campaign makes it to $50,000 we expect to have this space ready shortly after our grand opening (pending city permitting approval).

UNLOCKED! But wait, there's more! We also wanted a goal tied to getting the word out and what self-respecting TTRPG crowdfunder doesn't include a miniature?! If we hit 125 contributors, we'll be working with Strata Miniatures to bring the Ashbringer to life:

A 3D render of the front and back of the Ashbringer miniature, a heavily armored older woman with a sword resting on her shoulder and her cloak flowing in the wind. The TPK logo is in the middle and the Strata Miniatures logo is in the lower left.

Every digital copy of The Blooms That Feed on Fire will include the digital .stl file, while every print copy will include a DND-scale cast resin miniature to terrify your players on the tabletop. These will come unpainted.

Photograph of the current Tabor Bread building, featuring the SE Hawthorne street sign in the corner.

I'm not a gamer. Is this brewery still for me?

Absolutely! First and foremost TPK Brewing Co. is a family-friendly neighborhood brewery, taproom, and restaurant. For the non-gamers out there, the best way to think about it is as a place where the weekly events are focused on tabletop roleplaying instead of karaoke or trivia. We have plenty of rewards for non-gamers that still want to support a geeky new craft brewery, along with some rewards specifically aimed at those of you who might be interested in dipping your toe in the hobby for the first time.

Chefs Melvin Trinidad, holding a beer, and Kiaha Kurek speaking during a catering event in the 5051 SE Hawthorne space.

A restaurant, you say?

TPK Brewing Co. is proud to be partnering with Hapa Barkada to provide an unforgettable dining experience. This new joint-venture from the chef-owners Melvin Trinidad (of BarkadaPDX) and Kiaha Kurek (of Hapa Howies) will be sharing the space with us and putting out a full menu of Filipino and Hawaiian dishes. The taste is upscale, but it's still casual and great for both gaming and drinking, with or without your kids. It's Flippin' Aloha!

A photograph of fried chicken and pineapple skewers on a wooden tray.

Why are you running a crowdfunding campaign?

While everything is on track for TPK Brewing Co. to open our doors in Spring 2023, we really wanted to make sign-ups for the first chapter of The Leyfarer's Chronicle available ahead of time, allowing us to start sharing our world and get your early feedback. We also realized the tale of how the Ashbringer broke the world is too exciting to just be a footnote in Val'Ruvina history, and it quickly became apparent that it merited its own prequel adventure book. That said, while we do have the funding to open our doors, we will still need your support to ensure we can get this prequel book completed and printed.

We're not looking to make a profit from this crowdfunding and we have plenty of "nice-to-have" stretch goals planned if we exceed our initial funding goal, such as additional prequel narratives or upgrades to the physical space that aren't currently in our budget. Does an outdoor parklet on Hawthorne, complete with gaming tables and heaters, sound nice to anyone else?!

Journal entry featuring a sketch of a cluster of yellow gems labeled sun shards.

Rewards

Our rewards have been split into two tracks, gaming and brewing, but one of the things we love most about Crowdfundr is that you can freely choose individual options from both. You can view the full list with pictures and descriptions to the right, but here's an easy overview to ensure you don't miss a thing!

Gaming Track

The Blooms That Feed on Fire (PDF or Print Copy)
Leyfarer's Sigil Car/Laptop Decal
TPK Brewing Co. Branded d6 Dice
Leyfarer's Sigil Enamel Pin
The Blooms That Feed on Fire Release Poster
Leyfarer Cat Enamel Pin Set
Leyfarer's Sigil Branded Chonk d20 Die
Custom Character Portrait
Book a Game Master
Leyfarer's Chronicle Subscription (Solo or Team, Seasonal, Annual, or Lifetime)*
Introduction to 5e Dungeons & Dragons course (including books, dice, and two learning sessions)
Develop a character for The Blooms That Feed on Fire with our Creative Director*

Brewing Track

Sticker Pack (4 Designs)
Bottle Opener Keychains (2 Designs)
TPK Brewing Co. Patch
TPK Brewing Co. Enamel Pin
Beanie
Trucker Hat
Shirt (Unisex or Women's Scoop)
Pint Glasses & Coasters (2 of Each)
Hoodie
TPK Brewing Co. 20 oz Stein
Brewer's Dinner, with Filipino and Hawaiian food pairings by our in-house partner Hapa Barkada
Growler + one year of free refills
Develop a beer inspired by The Blooms That Feed on Fire with our Head Brewer*
Custom In-House Stein + one year of discounted pours**
Private Brew Day with our Head Brewer

* Includes an invite to the book launch party where our Creative Director Dana will be running The Blooms That Feed on Fire for professional TTRPG actors.

** Includes an invite to the Brewer's Dinner, hosted by our Head Brewer Jess, alongside the chef-owners of Hapa Barkada, Kiaha and Melvin.

We will also have an early bird discount, discounted swag packs, and event rentals, so keep an eye out for those.

For Leyfarer's Chronicle subscriptions, we will do our best to accommodate the bi-weekly game slot of your choice, but cannot make any guarantees. Scheduling priority will be given to lifetime members, followed by annual members, and then seasonal members, with full groups generally being scheduled ahead of individuals. We will do our best to add additional Game Masters and table space for particularly popular slots; supporting this campaign is the best way to help us determine demand so that we can accommodate as many interested players as possible.

Many reward images are proofs or one-off samples. While we will remain as true to the previews as possible, some alterations may be necessary during production.

When can I expect my rewards?

Our aim is to have all rewards delivered by our soft launch, which is currently slated for Spring 2023. Some may be available earlier (such as your custom character portrait which will depend on artist availability) or later (such as our book launch party, which will be after we're fully open for business), but we will communicate any such timelines to you directly via email.

How does shipping work?

Crowdfundr recently added combined shipping between different rewards, so you should automatically receive discounted shipping across multiple items whenever possible. That said, if your shipping cost seems to be off, please reach out to let us know at info@tpkbrewing.com. Also, all physical rewards can be picked up in person after our opening to eliminate shipping entirely.

We are a physical brewery and neighborhood gaming hub, so many of our rewards do require you to be physically present in our space to participate. While we'd absolutely love for you to plan a trip to visit, we're not able to provide any travel assistance or refunds due to last minute travel delays.

Meet the Founders

TPK Brewing Co. is founded by three equal-share owners.

A headshot of Dana Ebert, standing in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Dana Ebert (she/her) - Creative Director

TPK's Creative Director Dana became a professional Game Master in 2019, has written for Paizo since 2020, and has worked on several 5e-compatible indie titles in her 20+ year history as a tabletop roleplaying Game Master. She is the lead writer of The Blooms That Feed on Fire and is the creator behind the world of Val’Ruvina. Additionally, she is a professional voice actor and can be heard every Monday on Portland's own actual play podcast, League of Ultimate Questing: Battle Axis.

A headshot of Jess Hardie, standing in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Jess Hardie (she/her) - Head Brewer

Jess is taking a (quick) break from perfecting our flagship beer lineup to put together the homebrew recipes for The Blooms That Feed on Fire, along with scaling up commercial versions for our book launch party. She has been a homebrewer since 2016, studied brewing at The Siebel Institute in 2018, and was the Oregon Brewers Guild's first Mashing Barriers intern, spending three months brewing at Von Ebert in 2022. She's currently Oregon City Brewing's Assistant Brewer.

A headshot of Elliott Kaplan, standing in front of the brick wall at 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Elliott Kaplan (he/him) - CEO

Elliott comes from a video game marketing leadership background, which is where he originally met Jess. He's also been homebrewing since 2016 and studied The Business of Craft Brewing at PSU in 2018. Elliott's the one that decided we should definitely get the community involved in a prequel book because planning a business just wasn't enough work on its own! He's currently overseeing the construction process to ensure we are open for you as soon as humanly possible.

A drawing of a human, elf, and two tabaxi sharing beers in front of a fire while planning their next adventure.

But will you be keeping Tabor Bread's beautiful wood burning oven?!

Of course, every self-respecting fantasy tavern needs a gigantic hearth with a pot of stew bubbling away! Well there may not be stew, but Hapa Barkada is planning to have plenty of wood fired options for our patrons.

The oven was a huge part of our decision to move into this building, and she will continue to provide food and warmth to the community for years to come. We also recently learned she doesn't have a name yet, so that will be a first order of business for our regulars once we open.

Journal entry featuring a sketch of a crocodile-like monster with crystalline teeth.

Risks

While this will be TPK Brewing Co.'s first publication, we've been working to ensure all of our original roleplaying content is publication-ready over the course of the last year of preparation.

On the content side, Dana has successfully self-published her own short adventure in addition to having multiple Paizo writer credits under her belt and decades of experience with homebrew roleplaying writing/design. On the physical book creation side, Elliott's wife Meredith worked as Image Comics' Print Manager for many years and will be overseeing our production schedule (she's also connected us with an incredible cast of artists and designers who are already working away). We are very confident in our ability to deliver The Blooms That Feed on Fire at a quality we will be proud of, and expect that it will become a beloved addition to your roleplaying library.

The biggest unknown is just our construction timeline for the brewery itself, which could push back our opening and associated rewards. Our construction is fully funded and we are towards the end of the permitting process with the city with an aim to break ground this winter, but things could always take longer than expected. That all said, we'll keep everyone updated with our progress throughout both the reward creation and construction processes so there are no surprises.

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