All of the hundreds of good folks patiently awaiting this massive 570-page tome should be receiving notification from DriveThruRPG shortly as to their free copy.
(If you're entitled to this, and don't see a message to this effect in the next hour or so, first please check your spam/blocked email folder, and then message me or comment below and I'll investigate.)
The Results
I couldn't be more pleased with how things turned out. I've refined the layout and presentation to hew more closely to how 5E beasts are typically presented in other, existing published works. Every single monster fits on a two-page spread, so at any given moment, you're looking at everything for a single critter.
Is it perfect? Probably not; the critiques that some backers expressed at the Pathfinder edition are still valid for the 5E flavor, particularly in that the tome does not at all focus on "fluff" or description, as those are available elsewhere already. For the 5E version in particular, the criticism that some quadded iterations of the creatures were either still too overpowered for lower-level characters, or quite spongy for higher-level characters, is still valid, but then again, it's not the aim here to make an Arctic Fox a truly formidable opponent for a group of 14th-level PCs.
What is present is a complete mapping of 265 monsters, each one completely remapped to a quadded statblock format in 5E parlance, and with over 500 special abilities, attacks, and capabilities updated by hand to make sense in a Fifth Edition rules context. In terms of raw horsepower and mechanical usability, it's the single largest accomplishment I think I can claim, but I respect that it may not be exactly what every person had in mind or what your gaming group will find most useful.
Production Update
I lost several weeks of time working on Volume 1. The two main culprits were Day Job and Family, those twin thieves of time to whom I am but a humble servant in the end. However, the delay has weirdly granted me some odd time here and there to work on automation tools: I cannot, as I've posted before and to my utter disgruntlement, automate the layout entirely, but I have been able to automate a great deal.
For those who care about the details, my cycle time for laying out both 5E and P2E editions simultaneously is notably LESS now than my cycle time was to lay out the P1E edition.
So why do you care about all that detail? Well, it means that although I'm about 3 weeks behind the dates I most recently mentioned in updates, I've gotten quicker, so I'm hoping I can make up some of that time soon.
My current target is to complete Volume 2 by Valentine's Day, so fingers crossed!
Onward!
Volume 1 for 5E and P2E is Complete
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Jan 19, 2020 at 07:02:48 PM
A quick update to note that the 5E and Pathfinder Second Edition (P2E) versions of Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, Volume 1 have been completed. I'm generating the files now and expect to trigger fulfillment and publish tomorrow.
I apologize for the wait, but this is an absolutely enormous milestone. Much more optimistically, although my recent estimate for 5E/P2E Vol 1 was the end of last month, I have finally hit my stride and have evolved my automation tools to the point where my cycle time per-monster is less than it was with P1E over the summer... and that's for layout into two books simultaneously.
So, Volume 2 should go quicker and I should be back on track shortly. Again, thank you for your patience, confidence, and support.
Onward!
Production Update: December 16th
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 11:48:04 AM
Happy Holidays! Or impending / looming holidays, at any rate. I wanted to provide some visibility as to how things have been coming along.
Production Update
The 5E edition of the Bestiary fully underway in layout now. It's my entire daily focus. I've developed a desktop app tool to facilitate the layout--not fully automated since I've determined that's impossible with InDesign, but it accelerates things for sure. It's taken me from a 20-minute-per-monster cycle time a month ago down to about 5 minutes or so per monster. That's where it needs to be in order to meet my expectations.
I'm super thrilled with the output, and have reviewed it with some 5E friends, who have recommended some tweaks here and there. The layout is crisp, organized, and consistent, and it's loads more easy on the eyes than the Skelettin example from oh-so-long-ago.
Here's an example just to get a sense of the visual effect:
ABRE 5E Layout Example (draft)
Progress / Status / Timing
I had been planning, and tracking, to complete Volume 1 by Christmas. I'm behind that target, which I'm sure comes as little surprise to many, but I wanted to be transparent. The big impact has been my Day Job, which has been demanding leading up the end of the year. The other time hit has been the streamlining of my layout tool, which I'm sure nobody cares about, but the good news is that nearly all of that time has been an investment in things have gotten much easier and quicker now.
So Volume 1 will take more time, unfortunately, but the remaining volumes will be quicker as a result.
Freebie: Conversion Guide
I've gotten a *lot* of requests for this. So, another freebie for loyal backers who have been waiting a LONG time for their well-deserved rewards: Anyone entitled to Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm will also receive a Content Conversion Guide PDF for FREE.
This comes at no extra cost, either in terms of your money, or my time: it's a necessary organizational consequence of how I've been doing the conversion of 5E content for the Bestiary.
There's three pieces to this freebie:
1: Creature Ability Mapping
This is a table that maps a creature's special ability, attribute, or attack in Pathfinder to an equivalent in 5E and P2E. Here's a quick screenshot example live from the tracker I've been using to lay out Volume 1:
Same thing as the above, except for spells. Every monster that has an innate spell-like ability, or who can cast spells, drives an entry here in order to be able to map them to 5E.
Here's an example of the live mapping I've been using to lay out 5E:
(FYI, all of this stuff is draft for now and subject to revisions as I continue to lay things out.)
3: Conversion Heuristic
This section describes the approach I've taken mechanically to converting game statistics from Pathfinder to 5E. Ability scores, skills, DCs, etc. are all described in terms of how to take any creature or NPC from Pathfinder, and to generate A) a quadded version of that creature, and B) a 5E version of that creature.
As I said, this is a free PDF, and I'm happy to provide it as a thank-you for your patience and support. As a natural consequence of how I'm approaching layout, it's being generated automatically as I complete the layout of the 5E volumes, so it will be finished and published to you just as soon as the 5E edition is completed.
Conclusion
So, to wrap things up for now: Unfortunately, Santa Claus will not be delivering Volume 1 as I had hoped. However, the Easter Bunny will be delivering an additional easter egg for free. :)
I'll also be providing another update closer to the end of the year as a more comprehensive, State-of-the-Nation IGS update.
Thank you as always for your patience, support, and feedback!
Onward!
Production Update December 3rd: Layout Prep Automation, 5E & P2E Progress
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Dec 03, 2019 at 07:55:52 PM
Hope all who celebrate the holiday had a great Thanksgiving!
Just wanted to provide an update as to what's been going on, and where things stand.
Automation
As I'd mentioned in comments and posts, I spent a lot of time in the spring trying to automate the layout of these books. If it had been successful, it would have greatly accelerated production, but in the end, it was all for nothing, as InDesign doesn't work well with keystroke automation because it's so unpredictable.
The silver lining here is that I've been able to take the code that I had written toward this goal, and convert it into still being useful. While I still cannot, unfortunately, automate the layout, I can at least accelerate it by taking the crunch in the raw files I've generated and putting them into layout-ready format, greatly reducing cycle time per monster.
I'm glad to report that this automation effort has been a total success, and is complete. At a rough guess, I'm estimating that it will save me between 1-10 minutes per monster, a time savings which adds up quickly when you're talking this amount of volume!
Production Progress
I'm putting pen to paper, so to speak, starting today, to begin layout of Volume 1 for both 5E and P2E. By the end of this week, I should have a better feel for what sort of pacing this automation makes possible, but it's still my goal to complete Volume 1 by Christmas.
Onward!
Production Update: P1E Vol 6 Published, 5E & P2E Work Commencing Next Week, Free Monster / MOA Preview, and More
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Nov 06, 2019 at 12:59:46 PM
Hi all! A red-letter day* for IGS, today, as I clicked "go" on nearly 1,800 pages worth of new content.
* This is not me being old. This is me quoting Half-Life 2. Which, now that I think of it, might also still indicate that I'm old.
I'm going to assume that most, if not all of you, received the mass email to IGS DTRPG customers, which contains a lot of the same info I have to report here, so I'll keep it concise in this update, and focus the verbiage on what matters most to backers.
Free New Monster: Bloodguise Diredamsel
Monsters of Aquilae (MOA)is coming; that's not news to this group, since many of you are already entitled to a copy.
I've gotten a lot of very positive feedback for Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm so far, but one disappointment was the lack of "fluff". I've discussed the reasons why that was by design elsewhere in my updates, but for those who are looking forward to MOA, and are perhaps apprehensive about what their content is going to look like, I wanted to share a better view of what to look forward to.
You can check out all the fluff and crunch that goes beyond what was presented for the ABRE monsters, but the short version is, there's a lot more there for each critter.
If the free sample changes your mind about MOA, and you aren't already entitled to it as part of a previous campaign, you can lock it in at a discount via the latest Kickstarter, which aims to address the other disappointment voiced in response to the ABR bestiaries so far: not a huge amount of artwork. If you're already owed MOA, no action is necessary to reap the hopeful benefits of that campaign's adding to the content.
Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm (ABRE)
Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, Volume 6, for Pathfinderhas been completed and published.
As always, I can publish the PDF version as soon as I finish, but I have to wait to review the hardcover proof before I can publish the hardcopy edition.
Abridged Bestiary (ABRA)
If you'll recall, we had the original ABR campaign designed to produce two volumes, and then we had an ABRE campaign that expanded that to 1,600. In the ABRE campaign, ABR backers had the option of expanding their pledge to get the additional 4 hardcovers, or staying with the 2 volumes that they had signed up for and had been promised.
The "sticking with the original 2 volumes" option is the Abridged Bestiary, completed and published today for Pathfinder. Check them out here (Vol 1) and here (Vol 2).
Fulfillment Update
Everyone owed ABR in Pathfinder format should now have all six volumes of ABRE, and both volumes of ABRA (or will, by end of day today, as DTRPG distributes the emails etc.). If you're owed any of that and didn't get it by tomorrow (Thursday) morning 07-Nov, please DM me and I'll investigate.
