Last hours of the campaign!
about 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 07:43:41 AM

Hello Dragonbonded!

We are in the last stretch of the campaign! Please help us spread the word by sharing our pinned posts from Facebook and Twitter. With your help we will even unlock new content for the STL lairs! 

Stretch Goal unlocked - New creature!

We unlocked another stretch goal to include more content in the book! In addition to the high-level adventures and encounters, the dragonkin and draconic items, you will find a small bestiary in the book with statblocks for the creatures that can be found in Drakha. For the new one unlocked, we will work with you to create it together. Stay tuned in future updates so you can share your input with us!

For now, let us share some that are already in the works...

Sandbeetles inhabit the northern part of the Slithering Dunes and parts close to Baastherox’s lair. They spend a lot of time underneath the sand or in dark caves, only flying out when they need to find more creatures on which to feast on. A swarm consists of around a thousand members, all working in unison to bring down prey. The most unmistakable sign that a swarm of these insects is approaching is by the black patch they form in the sky as they fly.

Stormwurms are gargantuan creatures that dwell under the desert sands or in caves with access to water. They have the ability to create small storms when they are on the surface, their skin sometimes has small arcs of lightning. Slumbering for long periods, when they awaken, they lie in wait of prey to devour, using two slimy pink tendrils to bring in victims closer to their mouths. Even the dragons are careful when running into one.

We plan this campaign to be a great experience for you, even after the Kickstarter ends, we will be sharing development with you.

A project we love

Our friends from Elderbrain.com and their community created a D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e compatible adventure and campaign setting based on a grand survey with over 2000 responses. The Crown of the Oathbreaker adventure is a 300-page multi-sandbox dark adventure campaign through a cursed kingdom and the Feyrealm. Grab the early-bird goodies and their super cool game aids while they last. BOOSTER CARDS - FREE SOUNDSCAPE APP - CHARACTER SHEETS - BECOME AN NPC! Visit them at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elderbrain/crown-of-the-oathbreaker

We were excited to see this Kickstarter project some weeks ago, which has 1 day left, so hurry up if you are interested to add your support. 

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Thanks everyone for joining us on this new Dragonbond adventure, we are excited for the campaign's last day. Please help us share and spread the word! 

Behind the scenes: Art revisions
about 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 02:41:58 PM

Hello Dragonbonded!

We are heading to the last days of the campaign! Welcome to all new backers, some of you may have heard from us via our collaboration with Townsmith to have the STL lairs in their platforms, others may be huge dragon fans like us. Welcome!

As soon as funding goal was reached we started assigning more art briefs to move fast on development. This will be a fun campaign with each update, showing you the progress of the book.

Today we want to share a little more about development for artwork.

Since we recently showed you the concept art from some dragonkin, here's another one, with a twist: Ryellus, one of the characters in Baastherox adventure.

1. Writers start with a written brief to share our vision with the artist...

​Lore 

Leader of a cult of Dragonkin that worships the Azhurma​ Baastherox. Little is known about his past except that he is a Fulgen dragonkin and was an excellent warrior. Honorable and respectful of strength, he found his home with the cult and quickly became their leader, showing them the value of honor in strength. He once saw Baastherox in combat, and his life was forever changed. He had never witnessed such a display of power and might, deep down, he wanted to become like the Azhurma.

Description

More than 6ft. Tall,​​ his body is a machine made of muscles and scars, a walking tribute to combat. He prefers to fight using his hammer or his thundernet. There’s a huge scar where his right eye should be. His scales are white, and he is missing more scales than most dragonkin, the product of violent combat that could have cost him his life. One of the horns atop his head is broken, the product of heavy headbutting.

2. From there, we usually see a couple of sketches from the artist's interpretation of the written brief.

3. After choosing the option which is more in tune with our vision or the lore guide, our art director Tom Babbey and creative director Daniel Ehrli, guide the artist with feedback:   

4. Then, the artist submits progress on the piece with more details:   

5. Before moving to the final render with colors, lighting, shadows, etc, some additional revisions might take place to fine-tune details.

 6. After some back-and-forth with sketches, color proposals, and details, we get the full-color render, which are always breathtaking for us to behold!

These pieces are the result of many collaborators, from the writers who create the brief and the lore guide, to the project managers who coordinate all the moving parts of the process, and of course, the talented team of artists, art director, and creative director. But without you, our backers, none of this would be possible. Thanks everyone for being part of this beautiful project!

A project we love

We are avid gamers and backers too! And sometimes we enjoy promoting other gaming projects in case they can get more funding and reach more stretch goals.

‘Before the Stroke of Midnight’ is a Gothic mystery adventure for DnD 5e inspired by Edgar Allan Poe!

The Duchess Rose Blackraven of Shieldsborg Castle is dead.
However, her last will is missing, and it is unclear who will inherit from her.

You must find the will before midnight and identify the true heir to Shieldsborg Castle.
Search the old castle for clues, interview the secretive residents, and investigate the mysterious surrounding areas.

But be careful – more blood will be spilled, and a new murder will occur before midnight.

The adventure is around 80 pages and includes digital tokens, gridless maps, and digital handouts for VTT. You’ll also get the Black Raven’s Compendium, which contains new monsters, magical items, spells, and more!

Join the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/midnight-tower/a-gothic-mystery-5e-adventure-inspired-by-edgar-allan-poe

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Last days of the campaign!

Tomorrow, Kickstarter will send a blast notification to potential backers who opted to be reminded about this project. We hope we are able to reach more stretch goals and expand the content of the book just as we did for Eldritch Century. 

Please help us spread the word about our project in your social media or with a direct message to your friends. The book will be fantastic and the dragon miniatures are truly majestic!

Thanks for your support!

Historic Endings unlocked!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 02:30:21 PM

Hello Dragonbonded! 

We just reached the first stretch goal! Historical endings will be included in the book and will expand the story of the Red Moon and Dragonbond universe. As mentioned before, these endings will be just an optional path for Game Masters for inspiration, since we want your games to be your own and the outcome of the encounters can be different. You can read more about what we have in mind for these in Update #2.

Let's reach more stretch goals to include more content in the book!

And speaking of which, we want to share with you in this update more about what you will find in the book.

By now, you've seen the Azhurmas in all their glory, in Dragonbond: Battles of Valerna you can see how their offspring looks like, but have you wondered who serves under the mighty dragons and how are they seen by their superiors? Come then, as we will tell you a bit about the dragonkin of both the Fulgen and Magnifex broods.

Fulgen Dragonkin

While still seen as unfortunate byproducts of draconic experimentation and involution, Aureus’ dragonkin is what most would consider the definition of lawful. They are given tasks and jobs, do not question their lives or what is asked of them. Fulgen dragonkin understand they are the second lowest level on the echelon, only above the Valernian humanoids inhabiting The Golden City.

These dragonkin are generally content with their place and know they are also one of the smartest among the dragonkin of all broods. They are happy some of their number have climbed to positions where Aureus will directly be asking for their input and tend to what is needed from them. The Fulgen dragonkin are also renowned for their capacity to adapt and change; all in favor of keeping the order inside their beloved city... but their intelligence has led some of them to question the precepts and wonder if the time for a shift in power has come.

Magnifex Dragonkin

Much like the Fulgen squares, the Magnifex dragonkin live to serve their dragon masters, and they proudly declare that out of all dragonkin, they are the most subservient and fervent aides. The Magnifex dragonkin do not falter when commanded, even when following these commands often lead to their deaths in the most horrific ways. They understand they are not great enough to understand true as conceived by Splendid Prince Sivax or the other Magnifex dragons who strive at attaining ecstatic perfection, but they know that their brood lords have a higher purpose so they are more than happy to serve. Within their culture they crave attention and recognition for their efforts and lowly explorations, in hopes they will be granted a glimpse into the world of the Magnifex experience. For, they reason, this is the greatest reward that can ever be had.

Flamboyant as they try to be, this serpentine dragonkin dress in heavy cloaks riddled with all sorts of adornments and some of their "septs" have peculiar styles to proclaim their chosen craft to the rest of their brood. Of course, their dragon masters see this practice as crass and tasteless, but wonder if their dullard servitors might one day actually come up with a piece truly worthy to look at for more than a few heartbeats.

Help us by sharing in your social media so we raise awareness of this project and reach more stretch goals!

And by completing the previous social challenges we will create more structures for the 3D printable lairs... we have great news for them too!

3D LAIRS IN TOWNBUILDER UNLIMITED

We are partnering with Townsmith, creators of Townbuilder to incorporate the Dragon Lairs STL files into their platform!

Now, you will be able to have modularity within the different lairs so you can customize your own battlemaps with all of the 7 different lairs. From a custom graveyard for Nixis to custom pyramids from the coatl lands. This will be a variant of the STL pack will be available in Backerkit for an extra $5. (The $10 STL pack for the Lairs just includes the preset configuration of the battlemaps and structures).

Townbuilder is a pioneer in custom creator for support free tabletop buildings. They had over 6000 Backers, and over 300k$ funding and are ahead of schedule in fulfillment. They are constantly expanding the available assets by a new theme every month. 

For all our backers, using the Discount Code “Drakha” will give you 10% off anything in Townbuilder's shop. 

With Legendary Dragons 3D, we partnered with them and some of the heads of that campaign will soon be available in Townsbuilder's custom Signbuilder that comes in the “Pro” Edition

We love Townbuilder and supported it during their Kickstarter. They currently have assets from Medieval, Underground, Castle, and Steampunk, but Feudal Asia and Druidic are coming soon. You can find more info about it here. We are delighted for this collaboration with them! It is an honor for us to add the draconic terrain in their assets.

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That's all for now! We are entering the final week for the campaign. Please help us spread the word about this project with any friends who might regret missing the opportunity to get one (or more) of these dragons. We will be back soon with more art to show.

Kuxcoatl, Arcane of Power
about 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 05, 2020 at 02:55:55 PM

Hello Dragonbonded!

Today we would like to share with you more about the project development. As backers ourselves and avid gamers, we definitely enjoy a good art update that allow us to see behind the scenes from projects we love. So today we will take a look at the chapter opener for one of the Great Wyrms of Drakha: 

Kuxcoatl, Arcane of Power

Knowledge is power;

It's mine to keep and grant;

And I'll share it only with the worthy.

 Kuxcoatl has a very special place in our hearts. All the great wyrms of Drakha concept art were envisioned by Tom Babbey, our art director. Having inspiration from coatls and feathered serpents, Tom proposed a head crest that could resemble the headdresses worn in Mesoamerican cultures and provide this dragon a regal feel. Most of us at Draco Studios are from Mexico, so we absolutely loved it. 

Tom used his knowledge about bird feather groupings and anatomy to make the feathers feel believable (and magnificent in our opinion). Tom used bright colors, lots of greens, golds and reds, reminiscent of Central American birds. He gave Kuxcoatl a long, sinuous tail covered in thin filament feathers, like a pheasant or peacock, that trails behind the dragon like a banner when he flies.

From there, our lead sculptor and creative director Daniel Ehrli (Axolote Gaming) sculpted a highly-detailed 3D model and pulled off the challenging pose. The balance in the miniature works perfectly. 

Angel Giraldez, one of our favorite professional miniature painters, and his team brought to life the miniature with an outstanding paintjob.

And for the book you will be getting, Aldo Dominguez, illustrator in Draco Studios, is creating the pieces that will be used as chapter openers in the book. With art and creative direction from Tom and Daniel. 

The final result is breathtaking.  

But we do not want to share just to final piece, we want to share every step of the progress with this GIF image. Enjoy:

Community Goals progress

We would like to remind you about our social challenges! These will help us raise awareness from the project to reach stretch goals and unlock more content for the book. But also to unlock more digital content so your encounters are even more epic!

Here's a great paint job we received today!

Please help us share in your social media!

A project we love: Zargoth's Tome of Familiars

As mentioned at the top, we are also avid gamers and backers. The thrill of reaching stretch goals is true in our own projects but also in the ones we back. So every now and then we would like to feature a project we love from a fellow creator and if you like it, consider backing as well :) 

Zargoth's Tome of Familiars is a compendium of strange and wondrous creatures -- new familiars, pets, and companions. Each creature is presented like those you would find in a monster manual complete with lore, artwork, and the notes of the infamous demi-lich Zargoth.

Unlike a traditional monster manual, these creatures are each designed not simply as foes to be encountered, but as companions to accompany players on their adventures.

There's a free preview in the campaign description, you can find it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanagames/zargoths-tome-of-familiars-for-5e

That's all for now! Let us know in the comments your thoughts about Kuxcoatl!

Fully funded! Entering into Stretch Goal territory
about 4 years ago – Mon, Nov 02, 2020 at 12:41:27 AM

Hello Dragonbonded!

It's only been less than 2 weeks into our campaign and you've done it! Great Wyrms of Drakha is funded!

We have already placed so much heart and soul into the development of this book and gargantuan miniatures that we are stoked to know they will become a reality and share this journey with you.

 Stretch Goals

It's always a fantastic feeling to witness as the funding bracket is finally reached. Then, there is still the thrill of seeing just how much more you will be getting and us be creating as the campaign keeps on going and blows past each of the Stretch Goals:

First, if we reach $65,000 USD you will get Historical Endings added to the book:

All these adventures are not just fantastic fun battles against the most powerful dragons on the Red Moon. These are all adventures that took place throughout different points in the history of Drakha, the Red Moon. This is not to mean that you are playing and the ending is decided, your adventures are your own, it can end radically different from what actually happened. The historical endings can be included in every adventure, and if the players pay attention they might end up playing up the actual events that unfolded in Drakha's history, alternatively you can see how the actual events unfolding after finishing your adventure, so you can compare the decisions and events that you played through with the historical event, maybe through your adventure you took a radically different decision, maybe you ARE the arty that played out the actual event!

Great Wyrms of Drakha is part of our larger universe Dragonbond, for which we are developing a wargame and a graphic novel too. There are few things that we enjoy more than a good immersing story, so we are delighted to share these Historical Endings with you in the book.

Community Goals

 We have so much we'd like to share with you, but this can only be made possible if, together, we all make it possible for a lot more people to hear about Great Wyrms of Drakha. 

Many returning backers and new backers have made a wonderful job by sharing pictures of their models and stunning paintjobs. Some of you may have already told a friend and convinced them to join in the campaign or even quite a few player groups may have pooled their resources to make their pledge and get all 3 available dragons on their tables.

Help us to spread the word with the following Community goals and in addition to help towards Stretch Goals, for every few of them achieved we will also sculpt the complex structures atop the 3D printable battlempas of the lairs for the other Great Wyrms. (Included in the Lairs STL pack).

If you help us share and spread the word about the campaign, the Stretch Goal territory will be easily conquered! 

Here's another epic picture you can show on your social media:

And if you thought a 200mm tall Gargantuan Great Wyrm was already epic, with the massive 3D-printable lairs, your high-level adventures will become legendary.

 Thank you, all! Your continuous support is what keeps us pushing ourselves to deliver the best products.

Choose to fight! Your battles will become Legend!