Creature Codex: 5th Edition Monsters Including Commissions

April Progress Report and Previews
almost 8 years ago – Wed, May 02, 2018 at 01:55:57 AM

Hello backers,

May this is not a surprise, and nevertheless the kobolds are delighted to say we have tons of progress to report from April!

Here's the short-and-sweet of what the crew accomplished on this project last month.

• Commissioned 3 pieces additional art we realized we needed! (The Pawns are good for stress-testing that kind of thing)
• Yes, finalized the pawns and turned over the files for Codex Pawns to press; we will see proofs by the end of May. (These need the longest lead time.)
• Also, just today lead editor Meagan turned over the first chunk of edited text to layout (A to D). While that might be just 4 letters, the ridiculous size of the D section (demons, devils, dragons, drakes, etc) means that this section is about 1/3 of the book. 
  
• We incorporated TONS of playtest feedback in both the turnover section and the rest of the book. More to do here!
• Requested and got a pile of corrections/expansions from designers based on playtest feedback (thank you again, playtesters!)
  
• Tore down and redrafted several monsters based on playtest results, and those sent out for a fine-tuning round of tests
• Decided some important style issues for the Table of Contents and crossreferencing (editorial knife fights were avoided, barely)
• Shipped Preview Pack #3 today to those backers who pledged for it (if that's you, check your Kickstarter mail)

That's all for this time! We're continuing to make steady progress and expect to turn over the majority of the remaining text to layout this month. We are aiming to complete layout in July with all monsters, front matter, appendices, and tables.

Overall, we're looking pretty great at this stage (with a few small bumps, but nothing unusual or show-stopping). 

Onward!

Wolfgang, Meagan, Marc, Blaine, Ben, and the Kobold Crew

March Progress Report
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Apr 06, 2018 at 01:08:58 AM

Dear Backers,

March was a busy month for monstrous art and editing and playtest! First off, thank you to everyone who sent in a playtest report; we have a very small number of targeted playtests left to do, but the vast majority of the playtests are NOW COMPLETE, thanks to you. This is an important milestone.

Here's a quick list of what else the busy kobolds accomplished on the Codex in March:

• Sent out Preview Packet 2 to the backers who pledged for it! Appreciate your support, and happy to put some monsters into the field early.
• Codex Pawn list generated, the layout for the Creature Codex Pawns starts in April. 
• Yes, that means the vast majority of the art will be complete in April. (We gotta do some more previews this month.)
• While generating the pawns list, Wolfgang found a couple weird glitches where our spreadsheets were not aligned and we were missing a handful of pickup monsters (including a whole demon lord!). Fixed those, and the list looks good. These kinds of small errors can add up and slow down editing/layout, so it's great to catch them early!
  
• Meagan completed the next editing batch, and had to return some creatures to designers for rework (it happens in any project of this size). We're looking at a turnover to layout of the monsters in April (back matter and appendixes will come in May). We're about a week behind the original editing schedule but editor Thomas has stepped in to cover the gap. 
• Cover treatment for the limited edition has been going back and forth, and looks pretty close. We're doing more with the foil on the spine this time.
• We hoped to get the pledge manager out in March, but it did not happen. We need to sort out the EU shipping logistics first, and they are very much NOT sorted out yet. The US Postal increase on January 1 does not help us at all. We hope to send it out in April, and will update when we do!
• Kobolds are reviewing and incorporating the playtest feedback, adjusting power levels and CRs for creatures. A few monsters were off-target by a fair bit and got flagged in playtest or in dev review. That's why we playtest!

So, steady on! We're maintaining momentum, and the relatively small hiccups and shifts are being addressed as they come up. 

Happy gaming!

Wolfgang, Meagan, Marc, Ben, Blaine, and Thomas

Playtest Wave 2 Sent
almost 8 years ago – Tue, Mar 06, 2018 at 12:57:46 PM

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

46 Winners of the Creature Codex Backer Monster Competition
about 8 years ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2018 at 10:52:55 PM

Ok, so this was an AMAZING selection of monsters, and everyone who submitted can be proud of their creation. Your judges were delighted, entertained, occasionally puzzled, and overall extremely impressed with how many fun, strange, and entertaining creatures were submitted (322 total!). Though not every creature will see print, it was a joy to see so much creativity, skill, and tight design crammed into those 500-word writeups. The 5E design community is a strong one. 

The judges had to make some tough calls. Many of the monsters submitted were totally playable and fun. However, that was not enough to clear the bar into the Codex! The winning entries had to be not just good, but needed to stand above; the judges sought out originality in both monster concept/lore and in their mechanics. Many solid-but-fairly-common concepts got rated as good and yet didn’t make the final cut. Many solid-but-fairly-standard mechanics also got rated as good, and yet they didn’t make the final cut, either. 

The top 10 monsters from the judges all showed originality in both concept and execution. In alphabetical order, those monsters (and their designers) are:

• Alliumite (Sebastian Rombach)  
• Arborcyte (Alex Kanous)  
• Bar Brawl (Benjamin L. Eastman)  
• Corpse Thief (Charlie Brooks)  
• Fulminar (Artem Serebrennikov)  
• Ink Guardian (Ross Paton)  
• Inkling (Andrew Johannes)  
• Mytholabe (Adam Letherbarrow)  
• Ursa Polaris (Joshua Simpson & Bailey Toth)  
• Wind Weasel (Graham Ruston)

In addition, the following 36 monsters all made a strong impression on the judges, and these entries were selected for further playtest, development, and publication. Some  will be renamed or tweaked with medium-biggish changes during the development process; others will appear largely as presented.

• Arcanaphage (James Wodka)  
• Armory Golem (Andrew Harshman)  
• Bathhouse Drake (Zachary Host)  
• Bearmit Crab (Eugene Katz)  
• Blood Giant (Nathan Crouch)  
• Bookkeeper (Kenneth Nero & Winifred Chiang)  
• Cauldronborne (Matt Sulham)  
• Crypt Spider (Jonathan Breese)  
• Darkfather (Joseph Cirino)  
• Fierstjerren (Jesse Stricker)  
• Flesh Reaver (Daniel Colby)  
• Foxin (George Sager)  
• Fractal Golem (Jim Heston)  
• Fragrite (Kei Imamura)  
• Giant Shark Bowl (Dylan Lloyd)  
• Goliath Longlegs (Austin Wilson)  
• Goreling (Summer Fenwick)  
• Grave Behemoth (Y. Michael Zhang)  
• Keg Golem (Charles L. White Jr.)  
• Mandriano (Dan Widrevitz)  
• Paper Golem (Kirby Atwood)  
• Rageipede (Tyrel Hoopman)  
• Sentinel Darkness (Sersa Victory)  
• Shoreline Scrapper (Matt Burriss)  
• Sigilian (David Zaine Aarons)  
• Skeleton Monarch (Andrew Shockney)  
• Spirit Lamp (Matt Cochran)  
• Sunset Raptor (Magneto Morgan & Kasey Brockelsby)  
• Tar Ghoul (Nicolas Courtemanche)  
• Thread-Bound Constrictor Snake (Paul A. Catalano, Jr.)  
• Tveirherjar (Corry Rogerson)  
• Venom Maw Hydra (Joel Russ)  
• Voidwracked Mage (Robert Morehead)  
• Wirbeln Fungi (Eric Robbins)  
• Yaga Goo (C.N. Constantin)  
• Young Spider Dragon (Luke Pickles)

Congratulations to everyone who tried their hand at monster design! We look forward to sharing these monsters for feedback in upcoming playtest packets, and then presenting the polished, illustrated versions in the Codex itself when the time comes.  

Happy gaming!  

Your Codex judges, Ben, Meagan, Steve, and Wolfgang

321 Monsters Under Review
about 8 years ago – Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 08:35:34 AM

Just a quick note to say THANK YOU to everyone who submitted a monster. all 321 of you! That is a whole book worth of monsters, and there's a good variety of styles and CRs and types. The judges have been reading them carefully for originality, adherence to 5E rules, playability, lore, utility, etc, and making their notes and comparisons, to see what looks most promising.

Making decisions on that large group will take a little time; we anticipate announcing the winners by Thursday, February 1. 

In the meantime, Shawn Merwin is designing the commissioned monsters, Marc Radle is assigning a lot more art for the stretch goal monsters, and we're moving deep into first round of the external playtest, led by Ben McFarland. 

The kobolds will deliver progress reports about once a month, and other reports (sketches, notes, trouble spots, highlights) about once a month as well. But if you have questions, the kobolds do keep an eye on the messages and the comments--we're happy to hear from you as the project moves ahead.

Happy gaming!

Wolfgang, Meagan, Ben, Steve, Marc, and the Kobold crew