Maps Book Expansion Almost Unlocked!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 05:03:54 PM

Greetings illustrious sages of the weird and wondrous!

As you may have espied, we’re getting close to unlocking the next stretch goal at $1.2 million—the expansion to the Maps Book! As we approach this massive milestone, we wanted to take a moment to look at what we’ve unlocked so far and to talk about what’s next.

Everything We’ve Unlocked!

Over the course of the campaign we’ve unlocked a real bounty of extra items that backers will receive free of charge!

•  Digital extras: PDFs of 4 adventures, an online rules reference, an online character creation tool, 2 additional tracks in the soundtrack album (total of 10 tracks), atmospheric sound loop downloads, and a PDF of the Maps Book (soon to be expanded). Backers at Digital, Standard, Limited, and Loot tiers will get all of these digital items for free! 
•  Physical extras: 4 adventures in hardback, a fungal dice bag, and the Maps Book (soon to be expanded). Backers at Standard, Limited, and Loot tiers will get all of these physical items for free! 

So that’s 5 additional books to add to the set of 3 core books. Truly an embarrassment of moss-clad riches!

Next Up: Maps Book Expansion

As a quick reminder, once we hit $1.2 million we’ll unlock an expansion to the Maps Book, including beautiful full size maps of the 12 main settlements in Dolmenwood! This will bring the Maps Book up to approximately 64 pages. Digital tier backers get the Maps Book as a PDF. Standard, Limited, and Loot tier backers get the Maps Book in print (plus accompanying PDF). The Maps Book will also be available as an add-on in the pledge manager (BackerKit).

What’s Next?

Taking stock of where we stand and what we’ve unlocked, we’ve decided to not add any further stretch goals. While there’s certainly a temptation to add another slew of goodies, we want to stay focused on producing the products that we’ve already planned for—and doing so on schedule. With the 3 massive core books, the 4 adventures, and the additional Maps Book, we’re looking at a really vast amount of content (around 1,000 pages of content altogether!). That’s not to mention all the accessories and extras (the screen, the minis, the LP, etc.). We want to put all our attention on these products and make sure they’re produced to the highest quality.

So while further funding of this campaign won’t unlock any more stretch goals, it will allow us to pay for lavish art throughout the books and to produce much bigger print runs than we’d initially planned for. And of course more books printed means more people to explore Dolmenwood with!

Books For Players

On the subject of books for players, you’ll be able to purchase extra copies of the Dolmenwood Player’s Book in the add-ons store (after the Kickstarter finishes). These will be at a special backer’s price of $25 ($5 off the book’s normal retail price). So consider taking the opportunity to grab some extra books for your table!

Another option for those interested in playing in Dolmenwood but not running their own campaign is to back the Kickstarter at the $1 pledge tier. This will give access to the add-ons store to buy the Player’s Book and any other goodies, all at a backer’s discount price. If you have players who want to jump in now, this could be an option for them.

All For Now

Thank you all once again for helping to bring this dream product to life! We’ll keep you posted with updates as things progress.

All at Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome

Halfway to the Maps Book Expansion!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 11:38:33 AM

Greetings fungal foragers!

Just a quick update to celebrate having passed $1.1 million today — halfway to the next stretch goal!

Next Up: Maps Book Expansion

As a reminder, if we get to $1.2 million we’ll unlock an expansion to the Maps Book, including beautiful full size maps of the 12 main settlements in Dolmenwood! This will bring the Maps Book up to approximately 64 pages. Digital tier backers get the Maps Book as a PDF. Standard, Limited, and Loot tier backers get the Maps Book in print (plus accompanying PDF). The Maps Book will also be available as an add-on in the pledge manager (BackerKit).

Some More Recent Art!

Just for fun, here are some new pieces of art that came in recently. These are from the Dolmenwood Monster Book, depicting some creatures one might meet in the deeps of the Wood.

More Soon...

We'll keep you posted as we approach the next stretch goal!

All at Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome

Atmospheric Sounds and Maps Book Unlocked!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Aug 14, 2023 at 09:07:13 AM

Greetings fungus-addled wayfarers!

We’re super excited to announce that we’ve unlocked the next two stretch goals: the atmospheric sound loops and the mysterious Maps Book!

Atmospheric Sound Loops

We’ll once again be working with Tales Under The Oak on this one. They’ll be taking a deep dive into the different regions of Dolmenwood, creating atmospheric sounds that referees can use to accompany adventures throughout the Wood. We can expect atmospheres for such wondrous and questionable locations as the fungal forests of Mulchgrove and the rotting swamps of the Fever Marsh. All backers will receive a digital download of the atmospheric sounds.

The Maps Book

We’ve saved something really special to celebrate the $1 million mark… backers will receive a fourth full size Dolmenwood book to accompany the three core books! Digital tier backers will get the Maps Book as a PDF. Standard, Limited, and Loot tier backers will get the Maps Book in print (plus accompanying PDF). The Maps Book will also be available as an add-on in the pledge manager (BackerKit).

So what’s the Maps Book all about? It will consist of around 48 pages of glorious colour maps of Dolmenwood, all presented as full two-page spreads. It will be an essential aid to referees, providing quick at-a-glance cartographic references to supplement many topics detailed in the Dolmenwood Campaign Book. There’ll be political maps, travel time maps, elevation maps, faction maps, foraging maps, shrine maps, and lots more! The Maps Book is in development, so we don’t have a full list of everything it will include in the end, but we’ll keep you posted as development progresses.

In terms of its physical qualities, we’ve decided to go for something a little different with this book. In order for it to open and lay flatter on the table, the Maps Book will be produced with a “flexi-binding”. This is very similar to hardcover binding (including the stitched page sections), but uses a flexible cardstock cover, instead of a rigid hardcover.

We’re also excited to reveal that the beautiful art of Ulla Thynell will grace the Maps Book’s cover.

Next Up: Expanded Maps Book

If we reach $1,200,000, we’ll include even more maps, including beautiful full size maps of the 12 main settlements in Dolmenwood! This will bring the Maps Book up to approximately 64 pages.

More Coming Soon…

Thank you all for your fantastic support! We’re over the moon to have reached the monumental $1,000,000 milestone, with over 7,300 backers! The really exciting thing with all of this support is that it means the future of Dolmenwood is firmly secured. We have approximately a zillion ideas for more adventures, supplements, expansions, and accessories for Dolmenwood, and with this level of support we know that there’s a market for them. Here’s to a long and lavishly lichen-encrusted future for the weird woods of Dolmenwood.

All at Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome

Fungal Dice Foraging Bag and Expanded Album Unlocked!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 02:16:28 PM

Greetings delvers into dank places!

The pace continues! We’re delighted to report that since yesterday’s update, we’ve unlocked the next two stretch goals: the fungal dice foraging bag and the expanded soundtrack album!

Fungal Dice Foraging Bags!

As you have probably seen, we’ll be producing a set of Dolmenwood fungal dice, with mushroom logos on the high numbers. All backers at a Loot tier will be getting a set of the dice, and other backers will be able to select them as an add-on in the pledge manager (BackerKit).

So we thought what better companion to the dice set than a Dolmenwood dice bag? Now we’ve crossed the $800,000 mark, Standard, Limited, and Loot tier backers will receive a fungal dice bag absolutely free! The bag will also be available as an add-on in the pledge manager.

We’re currently finalising the specs for the bag with the manufacturer and hope to have proper renders to reveal next week.

Two Additional Music Tracks! 

We’ve also unlocked the stretch goal at $900,000: the completely un-cryptically named “Soundtrack Album 2 additional tracks”. As you can no doubt intuit, this means that the fabulous Tales Under The Oak will return to wander the ways of Dolmenwood and produce two additional tracks for the soundtrack album, bringing it up to a total of 10 tracks. All backers will receive the expanded digital version of the album. Those at the Ultimate Loot tier will also receive the 12" LP expanded with the two additional tracks. (The LP is also available as an add-on to backers at any tier.)

Next Up: Atmospheric Sound Loops

If we reach $950,000, then we have something a little different lined up. We’re excited to announce that we’ll once again be working with Tales Under The Oak on this one. They’ll be taking a deep dive into the different regions of Dolmenwood, creating atmospheric sounds that referees can use to accompany adventures throughout the Wood. We can expect atmospheres for such wondrous and questionable locations as the fungal forests of Mulchgrove and the rotting swamps of the Fever Marsh.

Last Call For the Free Cloth Hex Map!

Just a reminder that today is the last day that backers at physical tiers will get a free cloth hex map (approx. 33” x 24”). Anyone who’s been on the edge about jumping in or upgrading from the Digital tier, you have until 11:59 pm EST tonight to get the free hex map. Backers at the Standard tier at this point in time will get: the 3 core books, 4 hardcover adventures, the fungal dice bag, and the cloth hex map—all for just $95!

More Coming Soon…

Thank you all for your fantastic support! We’re super excited to see how far we can go, and crossing our mossy fingers that that tantalising maps book will get unlocked soon! More on that as we get closer to it…

All at Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome

More Stretch Goals!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 10, 2023 at 01:34:52 PM

Greetings esteemed companions!

After blasting through all of our initially announced stretch goals on the first day of the campaign, we have some exciting news for everyone today. Following a consultation with the oracles of the fungal overmind, we have received permission to reveal 8 more stretch goals! Read on…

Three Unlocked Already!

The especially good news is that while we dallied in timeless communion with the Myconom, three of the new stretch goals have already been unlocked!

•  Winter’s Daughter (unlocked at $550K): We changed our minds about Winter’s Daughter (see yesterday’s update). We decided that as there are lots of new backers who don’t already have this adventure, it makes sense to include it as a stretch goal along with the other adventures — we just want to make sure that everyone has this fantastic adventure to run! So backers will now be getting 4 adventures included in their pledge, absolutely free! Digital tier backers will get Winter’s Daughter as a PDF. Standard, Limited, and Loot tier backers will get the adventures in glorious hardcover (plus accompanying PDF). (For anyone who has an older edition of Winter’s Daughter: this will be a new edition updated to the Dolmenwood stat blocks and rules terminology.)
•  Online rules reference (unlocked at $650K): We will create a rules reference website for Dolmenwood, freely available online for anyone to use. This will contain the core rules and other material from the Dolmenwood Player’s Book — a great reference resource and a great way for new players to check out the game. We’ll release more details about exactly what will be included in the online rules reference at a later date.
•  Online character creator (unlocked at $700K): We will create a website with full Dolmenwood character creation functionality. You’ll be able to virtually roll up stats, make all character creation decisions, and choose equipment, coming up with your own unique character all in one website.

...And Five to Anticipate

For now, we will refer to them purely by the following tantalizing monikers:

• Fungal dice foraging bag (unlocked at $800K)
• Soundtrack Album 2 additional tracks (unlocked at $900K)
• Atmospheric sound loops (unlocked at $950K)
• Maps book – Print + PDF (unlocked at $1M)
• Expanded maps book (unlocked at $1.2M)

We’ll release more details in future updates, as our funding levels progress.

Want to Publish for Dolmenwood?

It’s a way off yet, but we also wanted to note that there will be a third party license for Dolmenwood. This will allow people to publish their own adventures and supplements for Dolmenwood, using a Dolmenwood compatibility logo. We have lots of plans for more official Dolmenwood products beyond what you see in this Kickstarter, but we’re also really excited to see what others will come up with! We’ll announce more details when available.

Fresh Art Just In!

As noted under Project Status, the Dolmenwood core books are currently around 50% illustrated. That means we will be commissioning a lot more art before the books are ready to print! In fact, several artists are currently working on new pieces for the books, like this fantastic chapter heading piece that just came in from Pauliina Hannuniemi.

More Coming Soon…

We’ll keep you posted with daily updates as the campaign progresses and we unlock some of those tantalizing stretch goals!

All at Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome