Congratulations Graduates!
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 06:49:53 PM
We've blown past the previous three tiers of stretch goals and have uncovered the next block! Now that the book has its own custom adventure and writer, you have a chance to experience the subclasses and content in the World of Oranth. But what good is a single adventure when you could have so many more? Moving forward, for every stretch goal that gets unlocked, another adventure will be added to the digital files collected for backers. These adventures won't be held within the pages of Gribble's Guide, they are their own publications and backers will get their own copy of each one that is unlocked. Once all are unlocked, you'll have several options to use during game night to really get a feel for Gribble's Guide.
That's it for this update. Short and sweet. We unlock more stretch goals, you get more goodies for your table. It's that simple. Now it's time for me to get back to figuring out all the artwork that is going to be needed for the rest of the book.
Until next time...
David
Meet the Guest Writer
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Nov 20, 2022 at 08:14:10 PM
Well, you've all come together to help us get over the stretch goal I've been excited to get to and now I get to pull in a guest writer for the one shot adventure. As we've been coming up to it, I've been reaching out trying to find a good writer. I've had several people apply and I've finally narrowed it down. Allow me to introduce you to Chris Hopper!
Chris is a prolific writer in the community. I've had the pleasure of working beside him on a couple of previous, larger works where he's done an outstanding job. He's currently creating for Matt Colville on MCDM's Flee Mortals! project. He's also been featured in DMsGuild best sellers such as Amarune's Almanc. He's been a part of other kickstarters including Comets & Cockpits and Neverending Inc's Anasi's Tapestry of Lives. He can also be found working to create expansions and supplements for RealmWarpMedia's Fallen Camelot series, Mörk Borg, and For the Queen. When he isn't working through all of these other projects, he does accessibility consulting for Arcadia Magazine and works as a layout artist for other projects. We're excited that the World of Oranth team is able to pull in a new member and can't wait to see what we can create together!
Writing Credits
The following is a list of writing credits that Chris is most proud of and wants to share. '
- Neverending Inc
- Flee, Mortals
- Comets & Cockpits
- Amarune's Almanc
- Monster Hunts Weekly
- Children and Champions of the Fey
- Marvelous Archetypes
- Grimpress
- Splinterverse
Advanced Field Study and SubCLASS is in Session
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 09:39:32 AM
We're now quickly on the way to unlocking the next set of stretch goals. We flew through the NPC stat blocks faster than expected and are currently racing towards the next set of three goals. Because we've got the new block of goals on the page now, I wanted to take a moment to explain what we're hoping for with each of the next items. I'll go through these briefly and quickly line out everything.
One Shot Adventure
This is what it sounds like. ADVENTURE! And its main goal is to take you into a new area of Oranth. I'm also going showcase a few of the new stat blocks from this book and some of the guild related things as well. It's going to be a one off thing that will be meant for 2-4 hours of play. Not sure the level range yet, but details will be hashed out soon.
Guest Writer
The next big thing I want to do is bring in a new writer. If we hit this stretch goal, I'm going to take the notes for the adventure and let them fill in the details. I'm wanting somebody special for this. I've got a small list of people that I"m about to start reaching out to and start whittling it down. My goal is, as we close in on meeting this item, to have it narrowed down to a the person I want and be able to present the guest writer in an update after that stretch goal is hit.
VTT Playable
The expectation on the the digital aspect of this project is that we will release everything through DriveThruRPG once it's ready to go out. I'm planning to make this ready to play through Fantasy Grounds and include the module files in the digital package that everybody will get from DriveThru once the digital contents are ready. I'm also looking into a couple other VTT's at the moment but right now, if we hit this goal, the only one I'm currently expecting to use once this project is ready is Fantasy Grounds. That may change before the project comes out and if it does, I'll make sure to keep everybody aware but currently Fantasy Grounds is the VTT we're shooting for.
Now with all of that out of the way, Here's the big thing for today's update.
Subclass Testing
As mentioned before, I'm planning to put out each subclass through updates for everybody to look over and give feedback on. Once the update is posted, I'll wait for a two week period before posting the feedback form. The feedback will be anonymous and meant to retrieve constructive criticisms for each subclass. I'll then take that feedback and gauge where there is a lot of overlap in the comments and tweak the mechanics to better balance each one. There's nothing more to it than that. And because there's nothing more to it than that, let's go ahead and showcase the first subclass.
Path of the Destroyer Barbarian
The problem with knowledge is that it is not always used for altruistic intentions. As a Path of the Destroyer barbarian, you are driven by vengeance to learn the most tactical way to completely eradicate your enemy.
Path of the Destroyer barbarians tend to be an anomaly among other barbarians. Oftentimes they are found inside archives pouring over large tomes of war and strategy. This does not mean their rage is any less potent. In many cases, they are known to be more efficient than their peers, as they use their studies to focus their anger against a chosen foe to deadly effect.
Drive Out my Enemies
3rd level Path of the Destroyer feature
As a Path of the Destroyer barbarian, one of the first lessons taught to you is how to focus your rage on those that would seek to deal you harm. And your wrath won’t stop until you see them driven beneath your heel. The last creature to land an attack against you, before your next turn, becomes the focus of your rage. Until the end of your turn, while raging, you can add an additional 1d4 to all melee attack rolls and damage rolls made against this creature.
Starting at 10th level, the die increases to a d6.
Critically Vicious
6th level Path of the Destroyer feature
You’ve learned to quickly assess any weakness in your enemy and funnel your strength towards exploiting it to deal potentially lethal blows. While raging, when you land a critical hit, you deal max damage for that attack. You can use this feature a number of times equal to half your proficiency bonus rounded down. Once you’ve expended all uses, you can’t use this feature again until after a long rest.
Kiting the Kill
10th level Path of the Destroyer feature
A good tactician understands the value of strong allies. When those allies are threatened, it serves well to draw the attacker’s attention away in hopes of protecting your support. When a creature attacks an ally within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to attempt to redirect their focus. If the creature can see and hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). On a failure, that creature must use its move action to move closer towards you. If the creature has already moved on its turn, the effect will take place at the start of its next turn instead.
If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.
Mutually Assured Destruction
14th level Path of the Destroyer feature
If you are to fall to the hands of your enemies, it will be the last thing they ever do. When a creature within melee range of you lands a critical hit against you, you can use a reaction to immediately make an attack against that creature with advantage.
This ends the subclass play material
I hope you all have fun with this subclass. Keep in mind this is play test material and what appears here does not necessarily reflect what will appear in the final product. I'll be reaching out again soon to reveal who the guest writer is when we reach that goal.
Until next time, keep being awesome
David
A Bit of Cross Pollination
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Nov 13, 2022 at 12:45:25 AM
Hello again everybody! Doing something a little bit different tonight. A bit of cross pollination here on Kickstarter for some interesting projects that a couple of the backers to Gribble's Guide are also doing. I thought it would be a good idea to bring eyes on their work and show off some of the other amazing things out there. The first thing is...
I love things like this. I'm a huge fan of over prepping for my games. I create and build and tinker for days. That's where the fun of TTRPGs come from for me. BUT no matter how good you are at prep work and building an adventure and world for your group to play in, we all know that they can quickly choose the one option you weren't ready for. Something like this is a good solution for when you don't have something ready.
Every tavern, in every town should have some kind of job board inside. Postings the locals use to get help with various projects, or hiring some muscle for protection.
Our newest book for Architects of the Deep is a collection of Notice Boards of various jobs, tasks, mysteries, bounties and items that you can use to create side-quests for your players to take on and possibly earn extra gold. The book includes 300 boards to use in your next campaign.
This would come as a great way to create quests for the guilds presented in Gribble's Guide to the Academic Adventurer or just be fun for a quick game for that unexpected get together. And if you're going to be playing with this or with Gribble's Guide, you can't go wrong with another set of dice. Because, hey, you can never have enough dice.
The Dragon Eye Dice sets will initially be released with seven colour options, representing the many different Gods of Luminous Ages. We hope to unlock all 14 colours to introduce you to all the Gods and some characters from Luminous Ages.
Kickstarter is the best place to buy our dice with amazing special deals.
Early Bird: $128 AUD (~$80 USD) SAVE $21 AUD
Kickstarter: $135 AUD (~$85 USD) SAVE $14 AUD
Normal RRP: $149 AUD (~$95 USD)
The Dice are hollow Dragon GEM Dice that are made of 98% Copper and 2% Zinc, making them lighter than other metal dice but still very durable with a wonderful jingle sound when shaken together.
They come in a metal tray as a set of 7 including 1xD4, 1xD6, 1xD8 1xD10, 1xPercentile D10, 1xD12 and 1xD20.
The Iris of each Dragons eye is a premium natural ZIRCON Gemstone embedded into each side of the dice.
And that's it for this update. I thought it would be nice to shine the light on some other interesting projects on here and help other creators out. Don't forget, Monday we'll have another update coming with the first of the subclasses for playtesting. Look forward to that and run it through its paces. We want all of these to be as good as possible so we're looking for feedback from them.
Until next time.
David
Introducing Gribble & the NPCs
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Nov 12, 2022 at 12:18:58 PM
We blew through the first round of stretch goals fairly quick! And now we're working on the next set. As we're moving through this set, I thought I'd take the time to reach out and tell you about ALL the NPC stat blocks that will be coming with the book and actually introduce Gribble to everybody.
NPC Stat Blocks
Well, it's pretty clear that there will be low and high tier NPCs based off the first two stretch goals in this block. We already planned to have mid tier stats as a part of the book even if these stretch goals weren't unlocked but now we're looking at triple the amount you can play with. Once all are unlocked, they will represent novice, experienced, and master level NPCs. I know challenge rating doesn't always match up well but what we're looking to roll with is CR 1-4 for the lower tiers, CR 5-8 for the mid tier, and 9-12 for the upper tier stats. This should give a unique and interesting range of NPCs to populate any game and either aid or challenge your party in interesting ways. After all of these are unlocked, we'll still have Gribble's stat block which will be somewhere in the CR 20-23 area. So, knowing that, let me actually introduce you to who Gribble is...
Introducing Gribble
Taken from the introduction of the book:
Hello! I’ve not had a chance to introduce myself properly. I think it’s about time I fixed that. My name is Gribble Underisle, world renown wizard and spell crafter extraordinaire. I’m sure you’ve heard of my exploits. No? Maybe I can enlighten you over a drink.
I am a gnome and like most gnomes, I tinker. As long as I remember I have led research on crafting and producing beautifully exotic creations. Truly bizarre things that push the boundaries of what is theorized capable. Not all of them have been good. There’s a reason I can’t go back to my home in Twinklegem Veil, but that just means I get to be here with you. And what a delight it is that fate brought us together.
Held within the well crafted and wonderfully outlined pages of this tome is a small offering of my observations and research. If there’s one thing I love more than the chance of extending our time together, it’s an inquisitive mind. It’s astounding what creations and skills can come forth from the unapologetically imaginative. Through my travels aiding such heroes as Faramir the Shiny or Empress Ellifain Rhavaern, I have had the pleasure of meeting with some of the most peculiar individuals. Their own drive to acquire knowledge has fascinated me to no bounds and I’veopened myself to them to try and understand them professionally and personally. When the academics of this land are at rest, I busy myself with my own discoveries, currently I am fascinated with the concept of potential energy that everything seems to be imbued with.
I do hope reading through my notes sparks curiosity of your own and leads you down your own path of academic discovery. In the meantime, though, how about that drink?
Gribble
End exert
Gribble and his personality comes from the imagination of a player of mine. His wizard helped in the initial story that became the Knights of the Shadow Realm campaign. After helping the party in their efforts to defeat Umbrial at the end of this level 20 adventure, he returned to the Material plane and was rewarded by becoming the champion of the realm. He continued working alongside the party for a few more tasks until his past finally caught up to him and the player decided to retire him and move to a different character. Both my player and myself really love this character and the impact he had on the World of Oranth and at our table in general. He graciously allowed me to use this character in this book and I'm excited that he did because it means I can introduce you to one of the strongest adventures in Oranth.
Upcoming
You can see that this current block of stretch goals all revolve around bringing more content to the book in the form of creatures and characters that you can use at your own table. What is coming next is really exciting and means a significant amount more to be added to the book. I'm really looking forward to when I can reveal the next set of stretch goals. To do that, we need everybody's help in spreading the word for this project! We've done great so far at getting to this point and we've still got more to reveal and add to this book! Keep telling everybody you can so we can keep pushing further. The best way to see this project grow is through word of mouth.
Thank you all for helping drive this forward. Until next time...
David
