Adventurer's Guide to Azuria is on its way to you!
about 1 month ago
– Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 03:25:20 PM
Hello wonderful backers,
Exciting news! We've just distributed the Adventurer's Guide to Azuria to you via BackerKit!
There was an error in my sending of the preview file so only original Kickstarter backers received the file. We've now shared it with everyone!
The one hiccup this time around is that I attached the file to the digital copy of Land of Vampires, the print copy of Land of Vampires, and Land of Vampires Part Two, so some of you will see the same file a couple times. We're working with the BackerKit team to fix this (and avoid this in the future), but I wanted to go ahead and get it into your hands as quickly as possible!
I hope the Adventurer's Guide is helpful as your player preps for their adventurers in Steymhorod! I took inspiration from the player-facing supplement in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist with the details about Waterdeep for characters from the city and put together a general world history for Azuria. My goal was striking that perfect balance between plenty of information for players without it being so much as to be overwhelming.
If you have questions about Azuria that the guide doesn't answer, send us a message, and we'll happily fill in those details for you!
Speaking of worldbuilding details, as I hope you saw in our last update, we do have a whole slew of novels and novellas set in Azuria to deepen your worldbuilding as well! (Remember that you can get a free copy of Buried Heroes, Age of Azuria book one, here!)
A very thoughtful backer reached out to ask about the timeline connection between Land of Vampires and the Age of Azuria series. It was such a great question and I'm so excited to be sharing all of this world with you that I put together a blog post answering the question and providing some background inspiration for the series and more of what we're hoping to share with you in the future!
(If you want the short answer, Buried Heroes takes place 2-3 weeks before the catalyzing event of Land of Vampires.)
And just in case you didn't see it in our most recent newsletter update, we do have a new level 6-7 adventure available on the Grove Guardian Press shop, Sacrifice in the Sanctum!
The link above will take you straight to the shop, or you can click here to learn a bit more about the adventure and download the preview.
I am soooo delighted to have the Adventurer's Guide in your hands! We can't wait to hear all about your amazing adventures in Azuria and Steymhorod!
💚 Beth
October Update for Land of Vampires Part Two and Adventurer's Guide
about 1 month ago
– Wed, Oct 09, 2024 at 09:45:42 AM
Hello wonderful backers,
I hope this finds you well and that you're enjoying your adventures in Steymhorod thus far!
I'm writing with an update on Land of Vampires Part Two and the Adventurer's Guide to Azuria. Fans of epic fantasy will also find book bonuses and a website dedicated to worldbuilding in Azuria!
Adventurer's Guide
The Adventurer’s Guide to Azuria is still in progress but I do have a preview to share with you! It's available in BackerKit under your digital downloads files. I can't wait to hear what you think!
There are still several locations I want to add to the supplement so you'll have places to choose from if you don't want your PC to be from Linolynn. You will find lots of details in the preview for elven or fae heritage as well as the Azuria equivalent of dragonborn races. The other origins and races will be more apparent as we add locations to the supplement.
It’s been really fun to translate this world that we’ve been building for so long into a more codified form with histories and micro-cultures, and I really appreciate your patience with the creation process.
For those looking for more immersion and stories
One of the really special things we offer as a small press for the world of Azuria is an epic fantasy series based on our home game with so much worldbuilding and lots of adventures and special places! The novels span the two main continents of Azuria, Caldara and Tor’stre Vahn. You can experience the world as a noblewoman turned druid, a young pirate captain, a forcefully turned werewolf, and, of course, a huntress on a quest to eliminate a certain evil vampire who escapes through a blood portal into Steymhorod… 😉
As a special thank you for backing the campaign and as a thank you for your patience with the bonus supplement, you can get the prequel novella, Aurora, AND the first book in the series, Buried Heroes, completely for free! (Click the book titles for your downloads.)
And at the risk of offering too many bonuses, you can also share with your player Beth’s PC’s backstory/the catalyst for her adventures in Steymhorod, “Blood Wolf Moon.” Sometimes it’s easier to come up with our own backstories with a little inspiration!
Let us know!
Are there details about Azuria that you’d like or need to know for your game? We answer some of the basics on worldofazuria.com, and we’d love to help with your character backstories and personal worldbuilding!
Land of Vampires Part Two
Land of Vampires Part Two is also in progress! We have the adventure arc together, and Jonathan and I have distributed the body chapters between ourselves. He's deep in the Barasov chapter at the moment with really exciting adventures unspooling there, and I'm working on an urban vampire hunt in Rasonov.
We had originally bumped completion of Part Two from October to December. I believe we will have to bump it once more to March. Getting into the second half of the adventure, there is so much going on in the other cities of Steymhorod, and we want to do justice to the level of detail of the world and its denizens as well as the PC's relationship to the Sisters, Lord Draego, and the Part Two villain Radoghast. While our original aims for Part Two were for it to be a shorter supplement, we believe it will land much closer in length to a full-blown campaign in and of itself. We hope you find that as exciting as we do! Returning to Steymhorod with our characters—the arc of Part Two—was one of the most enjoyable arcs we've played through in our duet, and we want you to experience the same at your table.
We could also see the arc for part two working well with side characters from your main campaign if you so desire, but our design will orient itself around the original PC and be scaled for mid-level characters.
Thank you, again, for your support of us and our team of two! We want to get these adventures into your hands and at your tables!
I hope you enjoy the Adventurer's Guide preview and the Age of Azuria series as well!
Wishing you magical adventures,
💚 Beth
Physical Orders Fulfilled! Access Digital Rewards in BackerKit!
3 months ago
– Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 06:33:11 AM
We had so much fun packing up and shipping out everyone’s physical copies of Land of Vampires, Witches Fae and Foes, and Adventuring Companions! It was a dream come true to see the house overflowing with boxes upon boxes of our books. Thank you for making it happen. We are so grateful for your support and really can’t wait for you to enjoy exploring Steymhorod.
Don’t forget to access your digital rewards through your survey on BackerKit! I am hip deep in writing for Land of Vampires Part 2 and looking forward to sharing more details as the project comes together. Our supporters on Patreon enjoy early access to portions of that campaign as they are complete. Check out our stuff there for our latest creations.
Happy gaming!
It's Happening! Tracking/Shipping Info Incoming!
4 months ago
– Thu, Aug 08, 2024 at 05:52:45 AM
Good morning everyone!
I'm excited to let you know that PRINT orders from the Land of Vampires campaign are just about to head out of our door and arrive at yours. For fulfillment we are partnering with EasyShip, so you will likely (or may have already) be receiving tracking information from them letting you know how you can follow your order.
For our friends in the US, we are using USPS Priority Mail and you should anticipate having books in your hands pretty quickly.
For our international friends, delivery times will vary a little more. I may be in touch with you via the [email protected] email for more details about fulfillment.
If you have any questions or need any help regarding your order, the fastest way for me to help will be to get in touch at [email protected] or you can feel free to reach out here!
We are so excited to get Land of Vampires into your hands!
All the best,
Jonathan
The Books are HERE!!!
4 months ago
– Wed, Jul 31, 2024 at 10:48:56 AM
Hello wonderful backers,
I hope this message finds you well! This is an update I have been very much looking forward to being able to send which is that the books are here! (And by that I mean arrived within the last 20 minutes or so. You could say I've been looking forward to this moment all day! 😉)
It will be a couple more days before Jonathan and I ship, and I will send a second update out to be on the lookout for tracking numbers. Just like the other parts of this Kickstarter, we've never done this before, so there may be a couple wrinkles in the process we haven't anticipated. I believe the tracking number email will come from BackerKit, where you confirmed your address if you're receiving physical rewards, but I'll confirm that in the follow-up message.
We'll be sure to take some pictures along the way to share with you also! At each stage of this process, I get mushy all over again but truly, thank you so much for being part of this journey with us! It was a strangely specific dream-come-true to put six boxes of books I helped create on our gaming table today, and I find it so poetic and fitting that the same table that saw mine and Jonathan's adventures through Steymhorod the first time around is now going to be the site from which we send out your books to enable your adventures!
Land of Vampires Part Two update
While we're here, I thought I'd throw in an LoV part two update. I am finalizing the Rasonov chapter and Jonathan is making really good progress on the Barasov chapter. (Barasov is a favorite of ours so we're particularly excited about that one!) It's been extra fun as we've been tossing some ideas back and forth as I'm writing for Barasov at the moment as I finish up the fourth novel in my Age of Azuria high fantasy series!
Like I mentioned in the last update, Part Two: Risen Retribution is going to be nice and long. We're still hoping to fulfill that in December rather than October, but I'll be able to update you as we get closer.
Thank you again for your support! More soon!
💚 Beth
