Book of Monstrous Might for 5E Dungeons & Dragons DnD RPG

100K, 60 HOURS TO GO + Live Watch Party?
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 06:37:04 PM

Hey everyone!  Things have been just bonkers lately.  I've watched incredulously as we sailed past 100K last night thanks to your generous support.  As I've told many of my friends already, this really allows us to take our already popular ideas and content and increase the production quality to a top-tier level going forward.  It's been a wild ride, and I couldn't be more pleased to be on the journey with all of you.

There's only 60 hours to go, so Kickstarter will be ringing the alarm bells come tomorrow.  But I'd really appreciate it if all of you did a call to arms as well!  Share this everywhere and on your own social media pages.  We'll make one last push this weekend and see where this craziness takes us.

Which reminds me... I'd like to spend that time with all of you.  What do you think about a live watch party on Sunday night?  Say 8 PM - 12 AM CST?  We don't close this down until 11:59 PM, so I was thinking of doing a live video party on Facebook for everyone who wants to attend.  We can hang out and talk $h!t and wait to see our final totals.  I'll answer questions if I can, but mostly I'd just love to hang out and talk gaming with all of you.

What do you guys think of that?  Are there enough of you interested?

Oh, and I did say I'd embarrass myself for your enjoyment at $100k.  It appears I have to make good on that.  So at some point in the near future, you'll see me release a Karaoke video for your entertainment.  I've never in my life done that before a crowd, just singing along in my car, lol.  So... we shall see how that turns out.  I'm sure we'll all get some laughs, lol.

Alright, thanks again for all the support.  Let's make this push and see where we go.  Comment below if you want to be part of the watch party.  Let me know that it's something you might care about and feel free to suggest topics you want to hear me chat about (not necessarily connected to this Kickstarter).  Peace & Love!

-Brian

What is or was YOUR favorite monster - any edition? Why?
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 02:02:19 PM

Hey folks!  Whoa!  We just smashed through the 90k mark, now unlocking Draconic Ancestries!  You guys are the best!  This book is going to be chock full of delightful monstrosities...

But that brings me to my question?  What's YOUR favorite monster from any edition, and why?  We want to know!

-Brian

PDF Costs + The Umbral Elf
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 01:20:19 AM

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TL;DR: I should have foreseen this success and planned out the pledge levels better.  PDFs will be awarded to all print pledges.  See bottom for more details.

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Hey everyone!  We continue to blow through the stretch goals and hit some amazing milestones.  We just surpassed 1500 backers and $85k, which is simply mind-blowing.  We did not anticipate this level of support, and we are incredibly grateful for it.

That said, not everyone is keen on our PDF pricing and in reflection, I wholly understand and agree.  I'm working out some solutions for everyone that are fair and equitable.  I needed to realize that our economy of scale has changed immensely since the initial $5k request for funding. So let me help you all understand our initial thoughts and reasoning with a very open level of transparency.  

We suspected this would be a hit, but didn't know for sure.  We initially thought that we'd see around 200 pages of content with stretch goals.  I built my original pledge goals around that, but this has gone on to become a critical success.  It's a not a bad problem to have, and while it complicates some things, it gives me some flexibility to change others.

Now if you all remember, we initially had a PDF-only pledge level, a level with book(s), dice and digital rewards and the gonzo hoard level.  These were all bundled to have some really great value and make people want to pledge for the higher levels and get a ton of great stuff.  As this smashed through the stretch goals, there were eventually complaints that people wanted only the book.  Cool, I figured I could do that.  We were chugging along and I don't mind helping a guy out.

That turned into "where's my book plus PDF level?"  Well, it was there already.  Bundled tidily with a bunch of great stuff, and even at a discounted rate if you were one of the early backers.  Because remember, this isn't Amazon or Wal-mart, you are here supporting creators who aren't multi-million dollar companies make amazing things.  So, yes, this is about us raising funds to make awesome things, but certainly not about taking advantage of people.  Watch one of my videos sometime where I talk about the cost of a RPG book vs. a standard novel...  

I created a ton of stretch goals to help incentivise this process and even got Luke Gygax (son of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax) to write in the project!  I felt like I was really delivering on the awesome.

But back to the PDFs.  Recently there was a clamor for a book and PDF-only level.  Again, I think to myself "I can to that for my peeps!"  Here's where the water gets muddy though.  Now I've sort of boxed myself into a corner, because when I add more value to one pledge, I devalue another.  Also note, as a creator I can't change the prices of the pledge levels once they are set up.  I should have foreseen this and done a better job of designing pledge levels for every possible scenario, but common wisdom says not to overdo the number of pledges.  Lesson learned!

Ultimately, I should have clearly delineated the pledge levels better so everyone got a fair shake and then stuck with those existing pledge levels.  I'm sorry for all the confusion, but I think I have a very fair solution.

1) What I can do is ensure everyone who backs for any of the print rewards gets the PDF at no extra cost.  At this point that doesn't hurt anything and I'm happy to do it.  It will only be the PDF however, and not the additional digital stretch goals.  I need to maintain some level of separation between the pledge levels and keep some greater reward for those that pledged the higher amounts.  That way it's a win/win.

2) If you backed a level with the PDF/digital rewards listed, you'll also get the upgraded digital stretch goals (Roll20/Fantasy Grounds conversion, VTT map-packs, and digital monster tokens) in addition to the PDF.  That's certainly worth the additional amounts you guys have pledged to help make this project happen, and you have our sincere gratitude.  

So while I inadvertently made a quagmire out of the pledge levels with the additional pledge levels and pricing, I think that's a very amicable solution for everyone.  We want to do you guys right and reward you for helping us bring this amazing project to life.  Everyone should get what they want and more.

Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out and I can clarify anything for you.  Thank you again, and I look forward to where the next few days take us!

-Brian

UPGRADE to the DRACOLICH Pledge Level for BoMM HC & PDF
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 08:29:21 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

The 100 Goblin Encounters Challenge - [Comment and Get Published!]
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 08:27:35 PM

The 100 Goblin Encounters Challenge

Goblins are one of the most oft-encountered creatures in any D&D game.  As such, they are often presented merely as speed bump random encounters to help get your PCs from level 1 to level 2 and beyond.  This generally means that goblin encounters are terribly boring, and that does a great disservice to the cunning goblins.  Let's change that.

How to Play: Comment below with a unique goblin encounter idea, or as many as you like.  Each encounter idea should be a separate comment to help us keep them straight.  We'll take 100 of the best from here and social media and create a massive 100 unique goblin encounters table within the Book of Monstrous Might.

You can enter as many times as you like, just keep your posts separate.  Try to keep your ideas no more than a short paragraph.  You might be surprised to see your name credited within the book!

...and GO!