A series of 6 customisable biome themed TTRPG battlemap books to bring your games to life!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
More Map & Sticker Previews + First look at Music!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 21, 2022 at 07:31:52 AM
Hey everyone!
We are now at the halfway point in the campaign and it has totally exceeded all of our expectations. Over £85,000 raised and 3,000 books sold already, and with still 2 more weeks to go! Thanks so much to all of you who have backed so far, and to all of you who have shared the Kickstarter with your friends.
Previews
I want to share some more previews with you so you can all get a better idea of what exactly will be in each book, and so you can give me some feedback about what else you would like to see over in my Discord server. We have a special #itw-kickstarter channel to discuss everything Into the Wilds.
Please note - none of these previews are 100% final yet, but this is where we are at currently. There will be at least 1 more spread to come for each book once the campaign ends, as we will be waiting to hear from the Commission tier backers, and changes may still be made between now and when we start production based on your feedback.
Please keep in mind these are low resolution previews only.
Forests & Villages
These spreads have been shared already on the main page, but here they are slightly bigger and with labels:
And I can also share the complete set of sticker sheets that will go with the Forests & Villages book:
Deserts & Jungles
Here are the preliminary spreads for the Deserts & Jungles book:
and the sticker sheets:
Music
As previously announced after breaking the 50k stretch goal, the very talented Will Savino aka MusicD20 will be creating a brand new track to go with each book. As a special surprise for you today, he has already completed the first track 'Toward the Grove' which accompanies the 'Forests & Villages book' and you can download and listen to the entire track here!
Will is a composer and writer for tabletop and video games. He has scored dozens of indie games and has recorded over 400 tracks to help folks bring their RPG sessions to life. He is also the writer and composer for Borough Bound, a collective of RPG creators who build fully realized cities for use in tabletop campaigns.
That is all I have to share with you today, but there will be more coming soon. I aim to share a preview of every book (some will be more complete than others at this stage) before the Kickstarter ends on November 4th. Don't forget to leave a comment on this post, or drop into my discord server, to share your feedback and what kinds of maps you would like to see in the books!
Next up: 100k Stretch Goal - One Shot Adventures!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 07:39:52 AM
Next Stretch Goal - 100k
First of all, sorry for the late update! Who knew Kickstarters kept going on Sundays?
Creature tokens have been unlocked! Now we need a reason to use them. At the 100k mark, we will unlock a series of six one-shot adventures for 5e, written by the very talented Alex LeFort. Each one will be themed around and use maps from one of the books, and will work as short drop-in adventures that can be tied into any campaign.
Stretch Goal Questions
I've had a few questions about which pledge tiers will receive which stretch goal rewards. To make this easier to see I have updated all of the tier reward graphics on the main page, and the pledge breakdown. Hopefully this makes things a bit clearer!
I have also added the Stretch Goals as purchasable Add-Ons if you want to get something that is not included in your tier rewards, or get some extras. To do so, just go to 'Manage Your Pledge' in the upper right hand corner and then select 'Change your pledge'.
Tom Cartos Discord
I haven't done a great job of advertising it, but I have an active Discord server! There are a bunch of public channels for discussing all things tabletop, and I have set up an #itw-kickstarter channel where you can come and chat to me about the Kickstarter and ask any questions. Once the campaign is over and we move into production, I will be running a few polls there and generally getting your feedback as we finalise everything, so make sure to join!
I am very fortunate to have a wealth of talented friends in the TTRPG industry, and I want to share another project with you today. Keith & Jess over at Underground Oracle have just announced their first Kickstarter campaign and I'm so excited to back it! UO have been producing great 5e supplements for years, and this Kickstarter is sure to be the first of many.
If you are looking for some spooky Halloween content, this is ideal! All digital PDFs will be delivered before October 31st so you have time to set up a game.
Check out what they have to say about it and snag a free preview of the supplement from their page.
Underground Oracle Publishing is proud to announce the launch of Under the Harvest Moons, a 50-page premium softcover supplement containing archetypes, creatures, creepy rules options, cursed magic items, and a plethora of original lore that both players and game masters can use just in time for their Halloween games!
Enjoy the free preview of Under the Harvest Moons below which contains the full Veil Watchman ranger archetype and Black-Eyed Child creature!
In addition to fully remastered versions of our past award-winning Patreon content, this shelf-ready premium softcover book includes never-before-released materials and items, like the Terroborn lineage and its four different nightmare ancestries.
Under the Harvest Moons includes:
Haunted world options like new festivals, cults, guilds, and rules.
Eerie new player options including a new lineage, archetypes, and spells.
Terrifying monsters and stand-alone creature features to up the ante of your horror encounters.
Under the Harvest Moons will be available as a digital PDF or as a premium softcover book and every tier from the PDF level up will also include the Shard Tabletop and Roll20 versions of Under the Harvest Moons at no additional charge!
New Cover Art WIP + A look at the Gamemasters Survival Guide!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 04:27:37 PM
New Book Cover Art
Hey everyone!
I have a bit of a midweek update for you. As well as creating the GM screen art, Andreas Rocha is painting brand new covers for each of the 6 map books. The cover art currently shown is just placeholder stock art, and I want to have something really special and atmospheric for the actual books.
Here are some work in progress images of his new cover for the Forests & Villages book.
Initial thumbnail sketches
Blocking in Colour and Shapes
Adding texture
Refining details
I will save the final piece reveal once we have a few more of them done so you can get a good view of them all side by side. Andreas will also be releasing tutorial videos for each of the pieces he is creating for this project so you can see how how he creates such beautiful artwork.
The Gamemasters Survival Guide
If you have been following my work for any amount of time, you will know that DMDave is a long time collaborator and good friend of mine. Dave is and has been the best 3rd party 5e writer for at least as long as I have been in the industry. There is nothing he doesn't know about the game and how to run it, and now he is putting all of that knowledge into his new book - The Fifth Edition Gamemaster’s Survival Guide.
This book is a collection of 300 expert monster tactical guides for the Fifth Edition of the World’s most popular roleplaying game. The guides are succinct, easy to use, and inject great fun into your Fifth Edition games. Plus, they’re designed to challenge your players while ensuring everyone is still having fun at the table.
The Kickstarter includes:
● A 300+ page hardcover book featuring tactical guides for almost all of 5e’s monsters.
● Boxed set upgrades which include playbook cards, tactical GM screens, quick monster tactics decks, and more.
● Digital and VTT-ready versions of all the goods featured.
So how does it work?
The tactics guides include a bevy of information to ensure you fully understand how to use a Fifth Edition monster in combat.
● Fighting Style shows you the monster’s fighting archetype, such as Skirmisher, Artillerist, Brute, Controller, and so forth.
● Set-up tells you how to plan your encounters and where your monsters should start for optimal combat tactics.
● Basic tactics give you a round-by-round breakdown of the moves you should make with your monsters.
● Weaknesses tell you the monster's shortcomings and the types of character builds you should look out for.
● Pairings tell you the best monsters to combine with your monsters for maximum synergy.
These monster guides take into account the monster’s statistics, too. So monsters with low Intelligence scores won’t act nearly as savvy as those with high Intelligence scores, and so on.
You might even see some familiar maps in the pack! These tactical guides are the perfect addition to my battlemap books if you are looking for quick and easy ways to run encounters on the fly.
65k broken! 80k is up next for Creature Tokens!
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 07:39:23 PM
You continue to plow through these stretch goals far quicker than I expect! The fold out maps have been unlocked. Each Volume box will have a different 2 level XL 34x22 inch battlemap, but I haven't decided what they will be just yet. If you have some ideas or some favourite maps of mine, let me know in the comments and maybe we will run a poll to see what is most popular.
The next goal will be 80k and will unlock a full set of VTT creature tokens from the incredibly talented Splattered Ink! This reward will include one of every creature from CR0-CR10 of the5e SRD. This pack will provide you with more than enough tough opponents to keep your players on their toes.
The tokens will be added to the Foundry VTT and Roll20 Tier rewards/add-ons if unlocked.
If you like the idea of these tokens and want some physical ones to go with my battlemap books, Splattered Ink is running his own Kickstarter very soon. Sign up to be notified on launch here.
Projects I Love
Kickstarter is an absolute treasure trove of goodies, and I want to share an awesome project I recently discovered.
Anansi's Tapestry of Lives
Anansi's Tapestry of Lives is 320+ pages of awesome TTRPG content by some of your favorite D&D creators like Keith Baker, Jasmine Bhullar, Tanya DePass, Ed Greenwood, Jim Zub, and many others.
There's over 100 fully illustrated and richly detailed NPCs, plus 5e compatible stat blocks, magic items, side quests, and more. Each NPC even has a professionally voice acted intro monologue from actors like Robbie Daymond, Michelle Nguyen Bradley, and Luis Carazo to kick off the action with your players! The list of incredibly talented people involved in this project is dumbfounding.
New Music from Will Savino aka Musicd20!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 07, 2022 at 06:25:01 PM
And another one down! I continue to be astonished. I thought I would have the weekend to prepare this next update, but despite at least being awake this time you still caught me a little unprepared.
Now that we have unlocked the 50k stretch goal, I am very excited to announce that the six themed tracks to go with our battlemap books will be composed and created by the peerless Will Savino aka MusicD20!
Will is a composer and writer for tabletop and video games. He has scored dozens of indie games and has recorded over 400 tracks to help folks bring their RPG sessions to life. He is also the writer and composer for Borough Bound, a collective of RPG creators who build fully realized cities for use in tabletop campaigns.
Next up is 65k which will add an extra-large, double-sided battlemap to every deluxe box. This 34x22 inch fold out map will be of a larger, more detailed, multi-level location, perfect for some exploration and a big boss battle!
Thank you all again so much for backing and making this a reality!
