November Update! Dreamholders, Phantasms, and the Trifecta of Adventure
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 02, 2021 at 08:57:31 PM

Hey friends!

It’s Max here coming at you with our November update! In this issue of “what’s been going on”, we’re gona take a first look at the ‘dreamholder’, a parasitic aberration that travels through peoples dreams, and some of the items and familiars that will be in the book!

Dreamholder

A native of the Far Realms, dreamholders often find routes through to the Astral Plane. From this staging post, they parasitise creatures who astrally project, hitching a ride on their psyche back into the Material Plane. There, they flit between the minds of sleeping sentient creatures, distorting the dreamer’s narrative and feasting on their fear, distress, and unease. An incorporeal version of the otherworldly eye monster (whose name may not be beheld), the dreamholder can unleash a devastating array of eye beams against lucid dreamers who threaten to expel the dreamholder from their mind.

Fear of Ejection. Rarely does a dreamholder find physical form on the Material Plane. Instead, a dreamholder traverses the world through the dreamscape, an ephemeral plane created by the psyches of sleeping creatures. If this dreamscape ever disappears, such as if all creatures within range of the dreamholder’s dream bridging awaken, the dreamholder is ejected back into the Astral Plane. For this reason, dreamholders are commonly found in densely populated areas, places with a mix of diurnal and nocturnal beings, or wherever sleeping creatures can be reliably preyed upon.

A dreamholder killed within the Material Plane is ejected back to the Astral Plane, a place it abhors due to the absence of its favourite snack: sleeping beings. The dreamholder is a clever and resourceful aberration. Should its continued existence on the Material Plane be threatened, it will choose one of two tactics. If it believes itself more powerful than its foe, it will immediately attempt to annihilate the threatening creature’s psyche and render their body a comatosed shell. Alternatively, a dreamholder might bargain with its assailant, delivering secrets to them nightly until such a time as it can destroy this erstwhile ally.

Dream Stasis & Bridging. Dreamholders possess the unique ability to bridge the dreams of sleeping creatures, a feature they use to slip from a soon-to-wake mind into that of one that has recently drifted off. Indeed, one of the symptoms of a dreamholder infestation is the increased frequency of shared dreams between individuals of a community (and the social awkwardness that soon follows). Powerful dreamholders can exert such great influence over a sleeping creature that the dreamer enters a ‘dream stasis’, a paralytic state from which it can’t wake of its own volition. A clever dreamholder learns to release these captured sleepers just before they waste away entirely, knowing full well that it must return to sleep eventually.

Dream Lair. Combining these two abilities of stasis and bridging, a dreamholder can create a tangled web of interconnecting landscapes, scenarios, and protagonists, a veritable feast of corrupted dreams. Time dilates and constricts at the dreamholder’s whim, and rest is rarely attainable. In this varied, restless landscape, physical prowess means little: the dreamholder is the ruler, and those that are weak of mind seldom emerge

Do you like it??

More First Looks

Here’s some of the wonderful art that our team has been working on!

The precise effects of these magical robes are nailed down yet. What do you think they should do?

Project We Love - Fool's Gold

You've probably heard of Dingo Doodles, they're a super successful DM/YouTube illustrator who brings you a thrilling hand-drawn journey through their campaign. Well, now they're releasing a D&D book about their campaign world! They just hit $1 million and there's a big PDF expansion and VTT assets just unlocked for all backers.

In their own words: Fools Gold: Into the Bellowing Wilds is an exciting new 5e adventure that takes place in the world’s deadliest jungle where everything wants to kill you! Fun! Enhance your games with this jungle campaign setting, including a buttload of new content. We’ve also got brand new wilder magic & curse charts that will definitely excite GMs while the players pray to the dice gods.
                      Delve into the Bellowing Wilds, discover the rich lore of the world, and find out what happened to the ancient Foreclaimers who disappeared thousands of years ago, leaving ruins, mysteries, MECHANICAL DRAGONS AND DINOSAURS, and awesome treasures behind…

Cross-Compatibility. All the magic items they're making in Fool's Gold will be craftable using our rules (and their own, compatible recipes). They're also working with ATLAS (read more below) so that the maps available from that campaign can be used in Fool's Gold. This is truly the trifecta of adventure! Get it here!

ONE WEEK LEFT - ATLAS (The Map Kickstarter!)

In case you missed it, our 200+ random encounters are going to reference maps in the ATLAS map Kickstarter so you can quickly and conveniently get combat started! They also have more random encounters (based on the format in Heliana's) in super handy  tarot card format. Wish we'd thunk of that...

Help them get to $200k so we can get 200 top-down tokens!! Please... I really want them..

ATLAS is a TTRP-game-changer: a binder of 100 huge, hand-drawn battle maps, 2 decks of thrilling ready-to-run combat and mystery encounters, and a plethora of reusable vinyl stickers lets you be ready for any event! Cut down on prep time and be perpetually prepared for any turn your adventurers might take! Grab it now before its gone!

Backerkit

For everyone who backed since we charged cards in Backerkit last time, we're going to charge again mid-week (probably Thursday 4th). The charge will appear as Loot Tavern US or Plane Shift Press (if we get it set up in time). If you see either one of those,  it's just us - don't worry!

We're all working extra extra over time this month so you might not hear from us so much! Hope you all had a spooooky Halloween.

Till next time amigos!

Love Max (and Mo and Jess) x

ATLAS - A Project We LOVE that is compatible with Heliana's Guide
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 12:58:56 AM

Hey friends!

We’re really excited about a project we’ve been helping on! After the success of our kickstarter, Moonlight Maps came to us for pointers  and we saw an opportunity to have our projects (theirs and Helianas) work together.

 Project We LOVE: ATLAS 

Our friend, Moonlight Maps, has just launched his Kickstarter project, ATLAS. This thing is impressive and, importantly, is compatible with Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting (more below). The 200+ random encounters in Heliana's Guide will have an index linking to recommended maps from this project. That means you can have random encounters AND maps, ready at the drop of a hat. 

This project brings you two binder-books full of detachable, unfoldable maps that weigh in at an impressive 25 x 25 inches and 18 x 22 inches (and use a 1-inch grid).  These things are beautiful, hand-drawn works of art; your players will deffo be impressed (and scared) when you whip these out!

Cross Compatibility. Not only that, but ATLAS brings you ready made encounters in their Mystery and Combat encounter card decks. These guys are the perfect complement to our tracking system where, if you succeed on your checks, you get a narrative encounter, and if you fail, you get a hostile encounter. 

We've given Moonlight Maps our trade secrets for getting this to work so it'll fit right in with the Mechanics in Helianas. Get rid of prep hassle and use these!

Did we mention reusable stickers for map customisation?

Also, their video is hilarious. Check it out here:

We’ll have another update next week with a first look at the Dreamholder - a creature that traps people in their dreams, magics up illusions and feeds on their emotions, and details for playtesting some of the new familiars/monster tamer companions!

Till then,

We love you all

Max (and Mo and Jess!)

Shipping Charges, Dreamy Robes, and Cool Campaigns
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 02:06:16 AM

Hey guys,

I've had a few people contacting me asking about why their card is getting charged by "Loot Tavern US". That's us! Don't worry! Mo, Jess, and I (Max) are called Plane Shift Press, but our Stripe is set up through Loot Tavern.

We're charging for all the addons and shipping purchased through Backerkit.  This affects both both Kickstarter backers and Backerkit pre-orders. You can always log back into Backerkit to check the amount, you card details, and your address.

Locking Addresses. We won't be locking addresses for some time, probably until Spring 2022. This should give you enough time to move house a couple of times, get lost in the Astral Plane, and have a doppelganger live your life for you while you got on an epic space adventure. If you need to change your address, just bob on into your backerkit account (either log in or hit the link in your survey email or, if you can't do either of those, contact info@loottavern.com) and change it.

Disputed Transactions. If you didn't recognise the charge and disputed it as fraudulent then we need to take action. Credit card companies are super strict about this, and the evidence it wasn't fraudulent needs to be overwhelming. So (1) you need to contact your bank and let them know it was a mistake.  (2) You need to send us an email (info@loottavern.com) and tell us you made a mistake. (3) We might even need a signature on a short hand written letter.

If we get all of that, it's likely the fraudulent claim can be overturned, and we can proceed with your order :)

Sneak Peak

In other news, here's some super cool robes you can craft from the Dreamholder. What do you think they do?

Projects We Love

We have two projects for you today, the first, Orcs vs Satyrs, is a fairly small project bringing you two armies of STLs & minis. The second, Tanares, has enough content to fill a shop. Both have pedigree:  Eldritch Foundry, creators of Orcs vs Satyrs, created models for Critical Role's The Darrington Bridgade, and the Exandria Unlimited campaign.  Dragori games, producers of Tanares, have the creator of the Forgotten Realms as their lead designer. Read on below.

Orcs vs Satyrs

Remember we held that competition to design a Heliana mini? That was through Eldritch Foundry! Those same folks are now running their own Kickstarter. They offer two competing armies, magipunk orcs and mystic satyrs for a true tech vs nature battle. You can get these as both STLs or as ready-to-paint resin minis :)

I'm personally excited for the elder treant. And, if they hit their next stretch goal, all backers get a free custom STL from Eldritch Foundry! Plus there's a free STL on their page (we remember how much you liked the last free STLs! Our website is still creakin'). See it all here.

Tanares

This campaign is  epic. The production value is kind of insane.  And the lead designer, Ed Greenwood, made the Forgotten Realms (he sold it to TSR, what is now WotC). We'd be mad not to put it on your radar, even if it means tipping them over our own campaign total! There's so much in this campaign, you're gonna have to set aside at least 10 minutes to take it all in.

Hunt avatar dragons. Play new subclasses. Buy a few new display cases for all the minis. The campaign ends soon - less than 3 days!- so check it out now!

That's all for today, we'll have a content update for you in October :)

Thanks,

Max (and Mo and Jess)

Mini-Update: Time to Charge Cards in Backerkit
over 1 year ago – Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 11:53:24 PM

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

Mini-Update - You Broke Our Website - Cobramode's Free STLs
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 17, 2021 at 03:25:58 AM

Hey folks,

Either godzilla broke our website, or you did  xD

NOTE: There' is a bug on our website that says "there was an error, please come back later". Ignore it. You're good. Give it a few mins and it'll come through :)

In case you missed it, Cobramode collaborated with us to make some STL minis for the Veiled Lady adventure (a very fun guy). On Tuesday, we released a sign up form and almost immediately our website got suspended for using too much load.  We've upgraded that, so please: click away! Those of you who managed to sign up should have already received an email with a link to the files by now. We can see over 500 of you have downloaded them!

If you haven't yet, sign up for the freebies here! Don't forget to check out Cobramode for awesome minis delivered to your inbox each month!

That's all folks,

Thanks,

Max (and Mo and Jess!) x