Pledge Tier for All the Things and GenCon
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 06:03:02 PM

As mentioned in our last update, we have a new pledge tier: the oft-requested tier with literally everything (sans Dark Matter). It includes the stretch goals that weren’t unlocked for the previously-highest Lich tier, including the enamel pins and softcovers, as well as VTT. Upgrade your pledge to Valda’s Infinite Spire today to get literally the things!

GenCon

We haven’t made a lot of noise about it, but the whole Mage Hand Press team is at GenCon in Indianapolis right now. Conventions aren’t totally back, so we’re being extremely cautious and socially-distanced, but this year has felt like a low-population, working vacation sort of thing. However, we’ll be doing a short meetup today (Saturday) at 4:00 PM. We’ll be outside, showing off our hardcover of Valda’s Spire of Secrets, answering questions, and generally hanging out. Check @magehandpress on Twitter for info on where to find us!

Stretch Goals: Cobalt Book of Kobolds and the Final Pledge Tier
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 05:39:33 PM

This week has been incredibly strong! We’re already at 400K and you’ve unlocked the Cobalt Book of Kobolds, a book that is charming and cruel in equal measure. The book contains stats for many different kobold enemies (including the terrible mechanized Mekakobold), a race for playable kobolds, and kobold-centric weapons (including the scorpion on a stick!) You can also read about kobold society, research their trap-centric ambush tactics, and learn about their mazelike warrens.

Last, but certainly not least, the Cobalt Book of Kobolds contains a huge chapter of traps: some of the most pointedly practical and sinister things you will ever unleash on your players. Allow me to recount some of the cruelest ones:

The Sharp Incline. An extremely steep slope that must be traversed from either direction with rope. The incline itself is dotted with broken glass, rusty nails, and other implements positioned to slice ropes and send characters tumbling down the stabbing slope.

The Piano Floor. An old classic: wooden floorboards which sag greatly when stepped upon. Long razors have been placed between the boards, so that when a character of sufficient weight steps upon them, their feet plunge into the razors. Hallways of piano flooring are great fun for the GM and great misery for the players.

The Bear Trap. And in case you think that kobold trapsmiths have no sense of humor, the bear trap drops a black bear on you from above when you step on a pressure plate!

New Pledge Tier

We have a NEW pledge tier coming later today! I’ll update the campaign page with it (and the rest of the updated Kickstarter graphics) soon -- stay tuned!

The Illustrious Guestbook

The very last stretch goal is upon us: Valda’s Illustrious Guestbook, a PDF of around 30 NPCs to represent all of our base classes and enemies and allies in your campaign. We’re finishing the design on this PDF as we speak, and this is proving to be one of the most useful books we’ve ever pinned. Better still: we’re giving it to every backer for FREE!

Valda's pet golem made entirely of magic items
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 07:29:39 PM

A bit out of left field, but I made a CR 20 monster for you to measure your best parties against: a Hoard Golem, specially constructed by Valda out of all those magic items the dead adventurers left behind. This terrible construct features heavily in the art of Valda's Spire of Secrets, but its stats and description didn't have a place in the book, so we'll just quietly slide it here and wait for the sounds of TPKs to follow.

This isn't a stretch goal or anything; just a freebie monster that I couldn't fit into the campaign anywhere, but I figured you'd like nonetheless.

Oh, and here's a link to the PDF! 

Stretch Goals: Christmas One Shot and Kobolds
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 06:22:50 PM

Boom 350K! We’re at nearly the midpoint of the campaign and you’ve unlocked yet another stretch goal: a Christmas-themed adventure that we’ll package for FREE into the Starter Kit alongside Strange Owlchemy. You can play it at 3rd or 4th level as a standalone adventure or as a wintertime continuation of the events of Strange Owlchemy. We’re still writing and editing this one, so expect it a bit later than the rest of the PDFs on the queue!

The next stretch goal is one of my favorite books of all time: a tome of traps and trickery called the Cobalt Book of Kobolds. Everyone knows that our favorite little dragon people are trap aficionados, layering their warrens in simple yet brutal defensive mechanisms. Veteran adventurers know to fear the kobolds and their labyrinths of traps just as much, if not more so, than dragons . This book leans into the fun of “Tucker’s Kobolds” (younger players: look it up) to deliver a supplement with monster stats, traps, and even race options that will make GMs cackle with evil intent.

I’m going to chat about this book a lot, but if you’re a DM that wants to take your trap game to the next level, this book is for you.

Final Stretch Goals

We’ve revealed one more stretch goal, our final stretch goal: a compendium of ready-to-play NPCs based on our classes named Valda’s Illustrious Guestbook. We’ll be releasing this as a free digital supplement to everyone who backs our project.

But why is it the last stretch goal? Why not make new stretch goals on the fly until the campaign ends? The answer is that I believe in making a quality project and delivering it as fast as we can. At 500K, we’ve promised everything we can honestly deliver with our usual mark of quality at a reasonable rate.

Battlezoo Bestiary

Last but not least, we’d like to shine a spotlight on another project that released on the same day as us, the extremely cool Battlezoo Bestiary:

With four of the most prolific RPG developers in the industry today, the new Battlezoo Bestiary features 100+ new monsters, monster hunting & crafting, the ability to play one of 40 different dragons, a level 1-10 pirate adventure, and a lot more for 5th Edition!

• The Battlezoo Bestiary hardcover book featuring 114 winning monster entries from the 2020 RPG Superstar contest.
• The new Monster Parts System allows players to slay monsters and then turn those monsters into custom gear that levels up with the character, written by Mark Seifer, author of Pathfinder Second Edition.
• The new Monster Mage (Azure Mage) and Vestige Hunter (Monster Hunter) archetypes allowing you to steal those monster powers and use them yourself.
• The new Jewel of the Indigo Isles Adventure Path for characters level 1-10 and featuring monsters from the Battlezoo Bestiary and utilizing the new Monster Parts system, written by Patrick Renie & Ron Lundeen (Pathfinder Adventure Path Leads) as well as Linda Zayas-Palmer (Pathfinder Society Lead).
• The new Dragon Ancestries book detailing how you can play an actual Dragon, including 40 different types of playable Dragons!

Three massive books with tons of amazing content, check it out now!

Stretch Goals: Taverns and Tankards and an X-Mas Bonus
over 2 years ago – Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 12:51:49 AM

Woosh! Right past 300K -- we’re officially in uncharted territory here with the biggest ever Mage Hand Press Kickstarter. No time to celebrate, though, because we have stretch goals to talk about.

You’ve unlocked Taverns and Tankards, easily one of the most hilarious things our team has ever crafted. This book gives you every tool you need to craft memorable, engaging taverns, both for adventures and interregnums between them. D100 tables galore! My favorite might be the “You Wake Up With a Hangover” table, which just gives you insane things you find after a hard night of drinking with some wild adventuring friends, allowing you to piece the night together from the bizarre morning artifacts. Beyond that, it introduces a new Drunkenness system, a series of magical and nonmagical drinks (would anyone care for a piña colossus?), and subclasses that lean into these drinks, like the bard bartender (a bardtender) and a sauced sorcerer (sauceror). It’s a massively useful, side-splitting book that I recommend every GM keeps at their side.

Taverns and Tankards is available as a softcover and PDF add on.

Next on the queue is a Christmas adventure! We’ll package this 3rd-level one-shot (or maybe two-shot, depending on how ambitious the second half turns out) in with the Starter Kit for free, so you’ll have an adventure on hand next time you want to run a quick adventure over the holidays. Besides just being nice to have around, this makes a fine follow up to Strange Owlchemy, as it’s set around the same tavern with some of the same friendly faces.

(Okay, I know it's early in the year to get excited about Christmas, but if we unlock this now, you'll have it on hand when the holidays do come around!)