DAY 6: 200 K Goal + New Option + Results of the Contest
about 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:09:00 AM

This is a very important step! In the space of 5 days, you’ve smashed through the 200 K stretch goal, and we’re now sailing toward the next one at 250 K!

200 K Stretch Goal: Agate Dragon’s Lair Battlemap

The 200K goal is the Agate Dragon’s lair. It will be a map of A2 size (420 x 594 mm or 16.5 x 23.4 in), beautifully illustrated by Josselin Grange. In fact, it will be not only a map, but a battlemap, gridded for the use of 28 mm miniatures. Perfect for an epic showdown with an agate dragon… or perhaps some sinister villain who has made this place their headquarters?

Below, you can see an example of Josselin’s work, which will give you an idea of what you can expect.

In addition, since we know that battlemaps are a big part of the pleasure of playing 5E, we’re making a new option available:

New option: Battlemaps of the 4 Lairs

All other four lairs are now available as battlemaps! Said lairs are: the Copper Dragon, the Lord of the mighty ice devils , the Vampire Lord, and the Lich. Do note that for some of them, the battlemap may not cover the whole lair, since it wouldn’t fit on A2 size. In such cases, it will cover the lair’s most important areas; the ones best suited to battle!

Each Lair is a $5 add-on. If you wish to get those four battlemaps, you will get a $5 discount : only add $15 to your pledge.

Here you can see the different Lairs, included in the Creatures: Collector Pack and from which the battlemaps will be made:

Quick reminder about the options: Click “Manage my pledge” and add the amount corresponding to your option(s). You don’t need to change your chosen reward tier; just edit the amount you are pledging to account for any add-ons you want. When we send you the survey after the end of the campaign, you will tell us what option(s) the extra amount is for.

Soon we will publish an overwiew of all options available and update the main page of the project :)

Currently, another option is available for $20: the game leader screen. More info here.

🇬🇧 CREATURE CONTEST - STEP 1 : Results

The original creature contest has gathered a total of nearly 200 submissions! You sure were inspired! There were a lot of great ideas, and we loved reading through your concepts, seeing all your motivation, interest, and support. This is part of what makes our work so enjoyable, and why we always want to remain connected with our community.

But without further ado, here is what you’ve been looking forward to: the 4 finalists, handpicked by Iris and Nel:

• 1 ► A sentient house with the ability to subtly communicate with its inhabitants. Much bigger on the inside than on the outside. Can disappear and reappear from one side of the town to the other.
• 2 ►A demon spell stealer. Each player makes a int saving throw at the start of each round. A fail means the demon steals one of their spells and can use against them. Player cannot use that spell until demon is defeated.
• 3 ► A beast that appears like a regular animal/monster, but when attacked, can summon shadowy versions of itself, or can jump into the shadows of enemies and come out of them.
• 4 ►The peacat, a fey being that looks like a cross between a peacock and a cat. Can teleport and pass into the plane of fey. Steals items it finds interesting or considers important from travelers, simply out of catlike curiosity.

Congratulations to Arthur, Gordon, Sarah and Kjarllan for their creativity! As for the rest of the submissions, we hope that your players will have the pleasure of encountering them in the course of their adventures, because they sure were a gold mine of material!

As previously announced, the next step is the community vote: tell us in the comments which of the 4 concepts you’d like to see brought to life by posting “1”, “2”, “3”, or “4” in the comments of this update. You can only vote for one concept!

The vote will take place from now until Wednesday at midnight (Pacific time)/ Thursday 10 AM (Paris time). We will announce the winner on Thursday and reveal the artist who will work on this concept!

🇫🇷 Concours de Créatures : résultats de la première étape

Le concours a rassemblé presque 200 propositions de concepts de créatures ! Vous étiez inspirés :) Voici les 4 finalistes, choisis par Iris et Nel :

• 1 ► Cette maison aura la capacité de communiquer subtilement avec ses occupants, se révèlera bien plus grande à l'intérieur qu'à l'extérieur, et pourra disparaître et réapparaître d'un coin opposé de la ville à un autre.
• 2 ► Un démon voleur de magie. Chaque joueur effectue un JS Intelligence au début de chaque round. En cas d’échec, le démon vole un de leurs sorts et peut l’utiliser contre le groupe. Récupérer le sort nécessite de vaincre le démon.
• 3 ► Une bête qui apparaît comme un animal / monstre ordinaire, mais peut en cas de danger invoquer des versions d’ombre de lui-même, ou peut bondir dans les ombres de ses ennemis et en ressortir.
• 4 ► Chapardeur, être féerique ressemblant au croisement d'un chat et d'un paon. Capable de téléportation et de passer dans le plan féerique. Vole aux voyageurs des objets qu'il trouve intrigants ou qu'il juge importants, simplement pour jouer à "chat".

Bravo à Arthur, Gordon, Sarah et Kjarllan !

La prochaine étape est un vote : dîtes nous le concept que vous préférez en votant dans les commentaires. Indiquez le chiffre du concept retenu : 1,2, 3 ou 4 ! 

Les votes seront clos mercredi soir minuit heure Pacifique, jeudi matin 10H, heure de Paris. Nous annoncerons le vainqueur jeudi et nous vous révélerons l’artiste qui travaillera sur ce concept !

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Next is the 250 K stretch goal. It’s still a ways away, but with your incredible patronage, it might be very quick! Maybe only a few days? As always, if you want to go the extra mile in supporting us, please keep spreading the word!

Now, let’s keep going, and bring this campaign to ever-greater heights!

Cheers!

Clovis, Iris & Nel

DAY 4: What is Next + About Archetypes
about 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 03:33:05 AM

Dear all, 

We hope you are fine :)

Tonight, let's have a look at our next steps...

The 200K mark is so close 0_0 Tonight, it is also an opportunity to talk to you about a key point of Creatures: the Archetypes.

15 Archetypes

Game leaders who design their own adventures and campaigns will sooner or later need to tweak available creatures or to create new ones in order to keep players on their toes and keep their experience fresh. CREATURES includes 15 archetypes that can be applied to existing creatures, allowing for the creation of customized antagonists, allies, and encounters based on existing creature profiles.

Based on an NPC profile

Several archetypes are designed to be applied to standard NPC profiles, such as the bard, the crime baron, or the high shaman. Said archetypes consist in a list of traits and modifiers representative of the creature.

· Doppelganger. In addition to being able to take the appearance of any humanoid, doppelgangers have intrinsic abilities that give them a justified reputation as peerless infiltrators.

· Wererat. City dwellers for the most part, wererats are shapechangers who can take on the form of a humanoid, a giant rat, or a hybrid of the two.

· Werewolf. Wilder and fiercer than wererats, werewolves can likewise take on the form of a humanoid, a wolf, or a hybrid of the two.

· Vampire spawn. Minions of the vampire who transformed them, vampire spawn are creatures of their own with various aptitudes that make them suited to all sorts of missions in the service of their dark master.

· Ezen. The lord of a conquering warring horde, an ezen is blessed by a god of freedom and destruction. A charismatic leader at the head of a powerful army, their archetype is a legendary one, with traits and actions to match.

· Azer. Fire elementals, guardians of the boundaries of the world, and unparalleled smiths, the azers are advisors, priests, or protectors.

· Salamander. Fire elementals exiled from their original world, the salamanders form a proud, ambitious people, skilled in the ways of magic.

· Stone giant. An underground people close to nature, stealthy and contemplative, stone giants act as remote guardians, watching over more diminutive species and acting as a bulwark against corruption.

· Frost giant. A people of the far north, warlike and shaken by internal tensions, frost giants can be both steadfast defenders of sanctity and bloodthirsty conquerors.

Customized beasts and monstrosities

As they are not gifted with extraordinary power or abilities, most beasts do not present much of a challenge to high-level adventurers, but with the addition of certain archetypes, they can grow more dangerous, or become material for more uncommon encounters.

· Skeleton. You might be familiar with warhorse skeletons, but a necromancer’s arsenal can be made more diverse with skeletons of other beasts, such as bears or mighty herd animals.

· Zombie. Famously slow and dim-witted, zombies are not always humanoids. They may be coldly horrific or downright grotesque, depending on what creature you apply this archetype to.

· Ashen. An ashen creature is immune to fire, making it capable of thriving in volcanic regions. This archetype will let you create adapted fauna, worthy of Morrowind’s Red Mountain!

· Rabid. A rabid creature’s mind is lost to bloodlust, dominated by the urge to attack, bite, and claw. Where beasts are normally driven by a survival instinct that will make them turn tail against stronger opponents, rabid animals have no such fear and will relentlessly push on.

· Haunted. A haunted creature is halfway between life and death, in a state of quasi-undeath. Haunted beings appear in territories influenced by the powers of mighty undead or necromancers, and can pose a grim, persistent threat to a group of adventurers.

Special “The leader’s surprise”!

Nemesis. Such an extraordinary character can be put together to provide a suitable adversary to the PCs, one who will match their strength throughout their progression. A nemesis can be a former ally turned enemy, or the opposite. A PC who betrays the party may become a nemesis, and be made into a campaign’s main antagonist!

The campaign is going strong, and we will be there to venture by your side up to its end and beyond. As always, feel free to interact with us in the comments and to ask whatever you might want to know about…

Tomorow we will rest a little bit. We will post a new update monday with the results of the first step of the Creature Contest. More than 140 concepts have been posted, so exciting!!

Thank you everyone, see you soon,

Nel & the team

🎨 CREATURE CONTEST! STEP 1
about 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 11:41:59 PM

🇬🇧 [ENG]  And here we goooo ! We just reached the $180K mark and the secret goal : Creature Contest!

Reminder : we'll add one more creature to the book. And you'll be the one to come up with the concept! We will create this together. Several votes will allow everyone to participate. Here are the rules of the first step :

RULES

• 1/ To participate in this first step, you must be a backer of the project.
• 2/ Each backer can propose one creature concept, 40 words maximum.
• 3/ Your concept must be posted as a comment to this update.
• 4/ If two concepts are similar, the first post has priority.
• 5/ You have until Sunday night midnight, Pacific time / Monday morning 10H, Paris time to post your concept.

On Monday, we will review your concepts and announce the 4 finalists.

Good luck !

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🇫🇷 [FR] C’est parti ! Nous venons d’atteindre $180K de financement… et donc l’objectif secret « Concours de Créature » !

Pour rappel, nous allons ajouter une créature de plus dans le livre. Et c'est vous qui allez proposer le concept de base ! Nous allons la créer ça ensemble. Plusieurs votes permettront à tout le monde de participer. Voici les règles de la première étape :

RÈGLEMENT

• 1/ Pour participer à cette première étape, il faut être souscripteur du projet.
• 2/ Chaque souscripteur peut proposer un et un seul concept de créature, 40 mots maximum.
• 3/ Votre concept doit être posté en commentaire de cette mise à jour
• 4/ Si deux concepts sont similaires, le premier posté est prioritaire.
• 5/ Vous avez jusqu’à dimanche soir minuit, heure pacifique / lundi matin 10H, heure de Paris pour poster votre concept.

Lundi, nous dépouillerons vos propositions et nous annoncerons les 4 finalistes.

Bonne chance !

DAY3: $150K Goal + Secret Goal + First Add-on: GM screen
about 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 02:49:38 PM

Dear all, WE ARE 3000 ! Did you know our studio has a music label ? We have produced several albums and all of this make me thing about this song We are We all…

Here we go with this DAY 3 Update ! First of all, listen to that : our project is the fourth most popular project on Kickstarter right now 0_0 Help us push this further ! You can share it with your friends, on social media... go go go!! Posting comments on the main page is very important... share with us your excitment!

Okay, let's be honest, in our wildest dreams we would have made $250K, thus the last stretch goal. But it is possible that we might go beyond that! We are thinking intensively about other possible bonuses to reward you. This is a participative project, feel free to give us your ideas for future Stretch goals. Keep in mind that we have to be very careful to the financial balance and also - and above all - to the delivery schedule.

Let's look at what we have today...

• 1/ More stretch goals !
• 2/ Legendary creatures and lairs
• 3/ Our first Add-on: Fateforge Game Leader’s Screen

Stretch Goals

Player’s Guide. A printed book (soft cover, around 60 pages) detailing original options to play in the universe of Eana. While Adventurers and Grimoire are the core books of Fateforge, this book will provide you with an overview of Fateforge’s worldbuilding and a peek at its original rules and additions, perfect to get an idea of what Fateforge is about or to introduce someone to its lore. You can find a free version online but the one you will receive will be a little bit different.

The player's guide will be very handy to give to your players as a reference document so that they can discover the world of Eana and create their first characters.

Secret Goal : Creature Contest For the $180K bonus goal, we'll add one more creature. And you'll be the one to come up with the concept! We will create this together. Several votes will allow everyone to participate. Here are the steps:

1/ Everyone will be able to propose a concept, 40 words maximum (it's very short!). We will select 4 of them and you will vote for your favourite concept. From there, Creatures' lead designer, Iris, will create a new creature.

2/ We are going to present sketches of the illustration. Here too, you will participate by voting for your favourite design!

Our goal is to finish this new creature before the end of the Kickstarter so as not to delay anything. It will either be included in the book, printed separately or both. At this point, we don’t know. We will open the context when we will hit the $180K mark. Stay tuned folks!!

Legendary Creatures and Lairs

Today let’s talk about a key point of CREATURES: the Legendary creatures and Lairs. Agate dragon, vampire lord, and ezen are original creatures among many others in CREATURES. Legendary creatures suited to different atmospheres are provided, so that the leader may have fitting arch-antagonists no matter what kind of campaign they are running:

A story. Legendary creatures are always presented along with a story of their own, providing adventure hooks or even material for entire campaigns. For example, A Thousand Faces, though extremely powerful, may appear very early in the story, whether indirectly through its schemes, or under one of its many forms, setting up the players for many surprises.

Original legendary traits. Every legendary creature has been given unique extraordinary traits: unholy boons, lair actions, artifact… sometimes several of those!

Illustrated lairs. The lairs of legendary creatures are beautifully depicted, either with panoramas, scenes, and friezes, or with isometric maps. Art prints of these maps will make them all the more convenient to feature during your games.

Option: Fateforge Game Leader’s Screen

All right! Time for our first add-on :)

How to add options?

In the course of the campaign, you can add one or several options to your pledge. Click “Manage my pledge” and add the amount corresponding to your option(s). You don’t need to change your chosen reward tier; just edit the amount you are pledging to account for any add-ons you want. When we send you the survey after the end of the campaign, you will tell us what option(s) the extra amount is for.

Our first add-on is the Fateforge Game Leader’s Screen. A classic accessory for game leaders, this screen features handy 5E rules reminders on the inside, while the outside shows an epic battle between two dragons on a faraway world.

To get one copy add $20 to your pledge. Let’s go toward the $200K mark!

Cheers !! - Nel

End of the Early Bird! New Reward Tiers!
about 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 04:39:46 AM

That's it! The first 48 hours are over! What an adventure! 

The success of this campaign will allow us to make a reprint of the basic books for Fateforge: Adventurers (book for the  players, hardcover, 400 pages ; more infos here) and Grimoire (spells and magic,  hardcover, 330 pages ; more infos here). A new Fateforge RPG Collector Pack will appear, however a bit more expensive than the first wave which included a big discount :) Soon, these two corebooks will also be offered as individual options.

It's also the end of the early bird bonuses... new reward tiers will appear following this update, copy of the first ones, but without the metal dice. Several of you asked us if they could add some metaldice  as an option: yes, it will be possible soon! Also, to answer some questions, yes you will be able to change your reward tier during the campaign an keep your early bird bonus... the most important being the date when you have backed CREATURES.

Thank you again for your huge support <3

See you tomorow!

Nel

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