Wow... $23k Milestone; Reminder of Freebies
over 6 years ago – Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 09:25:32 PM

Stretch Goals Fallen

Congrats to everyone for the surge of late-in-the-game pledge activity; you've unlocked all of the following additional stuff, which I have to say I'm super stoked about.

• UNLOCKED! $21,000: Lairs for custom monsters: Some custom monsters will get their own maps, detail, and adventure setting of their lairs. Those of you who are fans of my already-published books may agree with me when I say that mapping tends to be my strong point, so I'm really excited about this possibility.
• UNLOCKED! $22,000: More lairs! Even more custom monsters get their own lairs.
• UNLOCKED! $23,000: Mini adventures for custom monsters: Far beyond a simple set of story hooks, some custom monsters get their own mini-adventures, runnable one-or-more-session modules unto themselves!

Unlocked: What You Get

This whole thing has been so successful, and some points are buried in updates and in the increasingly dense project description.

So we're all on the same page, here's what every non-Lurker pledge gets you, in addition to whatever your actual pledge gets you:

• FlexTale Encounter Generator (FTEG) in PDF.
• Microsoft Excel files for FTEG Tables.
• Monster Cards PDF.
• Incarnae of Aquilae PDF (aka ABR Volume 4).

That's probably close to $100 retail worth of digital content, FREE to you all for your early faith and support.  :)

In particular, congrats to everyone for making the $22k Cyber Monday Stretch Goal and unlocking the Incarnae PDF for free to all!  To clarify, you'll all* get it in both Pathfinder AND 5E formats.

Do Lurkers Get This Stuff?

Someone asked me this earlier today.  No, is the succinct answer; all of the above freebies only apply at pledge levels above the Lurker level.

I'm all for giving away a bunch of free stuff, but you gotta show more than a buck's worth of love.  :)

Physical Tokens Being Researched
over 6 years ago – Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 03:47:55 PM

At the request of several interested backers, and because the project has been so successful, I've been looking into this a lot more seriously.  I still can't say whether it's 100% feasible, or what the price would be, but it does look definitely more "doable" than I had feared.

I hope to have full details in the BackerKit add-ons once the project concludes and I finish my research, but I'd love to offer the option for physical tokens and/or pawns!

20K! Stretch Goals Unlocked, Plus New Stretch Goals
over 6 years ago – Sun, Nov 26, 2017 at 06:25:22 PM

Huzzah!  We made it to $20k.  

That's... astounding, really.  I can't say thank you, or congratulations, enough, or sufficiently.  I cannot wait to deliver on the enormous expectations and faith you've all (all 240+ of you!) placed in me!

New Stretch Goals Added

If there's one thing I've learned doing this, it's to never underestimate my backers.  

So with that in mind, I've laid out a few more milestones.  I in no way expect these to be attained, necessarily, but hey: we've got nearly 2 days to go, and you never know what can happen, right?

• $21,000: Lairs for custom monsters: Some custom monsters will get their own maps, detail, and adventure setting of their lairs. Those of you who are fans of my already-published books may agree with me when I say that mapping tends to be my strong point, so I'm really excited about this possibility. 
• $22,000: More lairs! Even more custom monsters get their own lairs. 
• $23,000: Mini adventures for custom monsters: Far beyond a simple set of story hooks, some custom monsters get their own mini-adventures, runnable one-or-more-session modules unto themselves! 
• $24,000: More mini adventures! Even more custom beasties get their own mini-adventures. 
• $25,000: Lair and/or Mini Adventure for every custom beast: That's right, if we hit this point, I'll ensure that each and every custom monster gets its own lair map and/or mini-adventure content. This will make Volume 3 potentially the largest, and easily the greatest value, of the entire project.

Stretch Goals Recently Unlocked

• UNLOCKED! $17,000: Additional Monsters: Monstrous Humanoids. At least 5 additional monsters of the Monstrous Humanoid type. 
• UNLOCKED! $18,000: Additional Monsters: Fey & Plant. At least 5 additional monsters of the Fey and Plant types. 
• UNLOCKED! $19,000: Additional Monsters: Vermin & Magical Beasts. At least 5 additional monsters of the Vermin & Magical Beast types. 
• UNLOCKED! $20,000: Incarnae of Aquilae: If we hit this lofty goal, a fourth Volume will be developed, dedicated to the concept of Incarna. Whereas Golems and Elementals tend to be physical qualities given a mobile, semi-sentient form, Incarna are coalesced physical manifestations of abstract concepts and phenomena--psychological qualities, feelings, thoughts, and so on. Lust, revenge, regret, rage, greed... these are the tip of the iceberg. Includes Incantatnions of Incarnae, a chapter describing rules on how to create an Incarna. I'm excited about this because A) golems and elementals are some of my fav critters whenever I open up a new Bestiary; B) the potential for some really stunning commissioned artwork here is incredible; and C) the narrative potential for some of the special abilities of these creatures is just mind-blowing. This separate, fourth Volume will also include story hooks and a sample adventure or two dedicated to specific Incarnae.

Note that unfortunately, we did not make it to $20k by the end of Black Friday, so the Incarnae book will not be included in everyone's pledge... but let's see how the final two days wrap up and I'll try to make something happen.  :)

Unlocked: VTT Monster Tokens!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 06:20:17 PM

Several backers have expressed the desire to have Tokens as a piece of the output here.  I initially balked at the concept.  This now appears mainly out of ignorance.

What Changed?

Two things: enough backers asked for tokens, and I realized how straightforward it should actually be to produce them.

I'm now inspired by the Tome of Horrors Reborn for Fifth Edition Kickstarter, by industry mainstay Frog God Games.  As part of that project, they're offering "Tokens of Horrors".  These seem very straightforward adaptations of the full-color art for their printed / PDF books.  I took one look at the examples they have and said to myself, "gee, I could do that."

Virtual ABR Tokens

So, I'm pleased to offer Virtual ABR Tokens as an Add-On option via BackerKit once the KS campaign ends.

I've never done anything like printed tokens, and frankly I don't know how I'd go about that, as circular printed cards aren't an option for RPGnow's POD service.  So I'll investigate other providers and will let you know if I find anything that seems feasible.

However, I will offer image-file tokens for use in VTT games and other purposes.

I Want Them!

Cool!  Just add $10 to your pledge.  You can do it now, or wait until BackerKit.  If you do it now, that'll add to the total I'll use to determine if Stretch Goals unlock.

What Does That Get Me?

Every single monster that has artwork, across all of the books associated with this Kickstarter campaign, will have a corresponding token created for it.

That includes monsters from ABR Vols 1, 2, and 3, as well as Incarnae of Aquilae, if that gets unlocked.

Stretch Goal Unlocked! & Black Friday Challenge: Free Incarnae Book!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 04:24:58 PM

Stretch Goal Unlocked: Popularity Contest

This is now officially my most successful Kickstarter.  Many thanks to all!

• UNLOCKED!  Popularity Contest (192 Backers): Additional Monsters: Swarms.  If this Bestiary becomes my most popular Kickstarter, surpassing Artifacts & Artifice, I'll add some additional new custom monsters of the Swarms type. Get it? Swarms of backers?

Black Friday Challenge

Now that we're hovering around the $17k mark, the lofty $20k stretch goal doesn't seem quite so unreasonably out of reach.  

So I'll offer a challenge, and reward: If we hit the $20k mark by midnight on Black Friday, November 24th, every backer will receive the then-unlocked fourth book, Incarnae of Aquilae, absolutely free.  All non-Lurker backers will get PDFs of this book in both 5E and Pathfinder rules versions.  Hardcover versions can be added via BackerKit after the KS campaign wraps up.

Expected Attrition

We've lost a few pledges along the way.  Lots of our dropped backers had financial issues, changes in circumstance, that sort of thing; that's to be expected with a long campaign such as this one.  For those who are still keeping tabs on the campaign, and reading this: Many thanks to those of you who were kind enough to drop me a note explaining why you dropped out!

A handful of folks have remaining concerns around the 5E stats, or the visuals.  I will underscore that I continue to evolve both my cosmetic / layout approach to things, so it will only improve.  The feedback I've gotten on the latest 5E Skelettin has been overwhelmingly positive, though there are some stat components that need shoring up.

I will be working with an avid, and active, 5E GM and player during development to ensure the conversion is fully up to snuff and that the end result is well worth your pledge dollar.

Finally, for those with an aversion to high-color or complex layouts, keep in mind that the books come in two PDF versions: One "full-background", and one that removes the background for a cleaner, crisper, and sometimes more screen- or printer-friendly result.

Below is an example of the difference; keep in mind that this is an example taken from the DO1 EPC book, so the cosmetics will be upgraded for the ABR books.