Updates
Check out the latest news and keep up with progress
PROJECT UPDATE
Flaming Hand
CREATOR
3 days ago
Project Update: Lore Complete, Pledge Manager Open, and the Next Steps
Hail, everyone!
A very good update this month: the lore for all of the new creatures is now complete, the Pledge Manager has been sent out, and the book is moving into its next stage. We are still on schedule for October fulfillment, and nothing has changed that expectation.
⚔️ Pledge Manager
The Pledge Manager smoke test happened over the weekend and everything looked good, so surveys have now been sent out to all backers. Please check your inboxes, and if you don’t see it there, check your spam or promotions folders. The survey is where you’ll confirm your address, finalize your rewards, and add anything else you want before we move into fulfillment.
One small change from the last update: we decided not to make The Black Spire Pact available as an add-on for this project. We had originally hoped to include it, but the two projects are operating on similar-but-slightly-different timelines, and we did not want to introduce any risk of The Black Spire Pact holding up fulfillment for Mörktastic Beasts. Keeping this project clean, focused, and on schedule felt like the right call. You can still pre-order it separately on our site.
⚔️ Lore Complete
All of the new creature lore is now written! This has been one of my favorite stages of the project: taking the completed art and letting each beast tell me what kind of awful little story it wants to carry into the world. The new material feels fully at home in MÖRK BORG: cursed, strange, violent, pathetic, and doomed in several flavors.
This week I’m handing everything off to Max so he can begin writing the stats and mechanics for the new creatures. That means the project is moving from “what are these things?” into “what do these things do to you when you are foolish enough to encounter them?” Which is, of course, where the real trouble begins...
⚔️ Where Things Stand
- The Pledge Manager is open and surveys have been sent.
- All new creature lore is complete.
- Max is beginning stats soon.
- The book remains on schedule.
- The Black Spire Pact will not be included as an add-on, in order to protect this project’s delivery timeline.
That’s the update for now. This continues to be a fast-moving, deeply weird little beast of a project, and we’re very happy with how the expanded material is coming together. Thank you again for helping us make it bigger, stranger, and more doomed!
By Night,
Janaka
Janaka
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Delve deeper at flaminghand.com 🕯️
PROJECT UPDATE
Flaming Hand
CREATOR
about 1 month ago
Project Update: Mörktastic Beasts Update: Art, Pledge Manager, and One More Golem
Hail, everyone!
We have a very good update this month: Mörktastic Beasts is on schedule, the stretch goal art is basically complete, and the Pledge Manager is ready to open soon. We are still targeting October fulfillment, and nothing has changed that expectation.
⚔️ Pledge Manager
The Pledge Manager has been approved and is ready to go, but we made the decision to hold it for just a little longer while The Black Spire Pact finishes the live phase of its campaign. That campaign ends in 8 days so you can expect the Pledge Manager survey for this project to go out in the next coupe of weeks.
⚔️ Stretch Goal Art
The new creature art is in excellent shape. All of the stretch goal art is now in from Caustic, Johan Nohr, and Saprophial—and Justine Jones is on track to deliver her final pieces by Monday.
That means the visual side of the new material is very nearly complete. Once Justine’s final pieces are in, I’ll be moving deeper into the lore-writing stage for each new creature, with Max following on stats and mechanics.
💀🌱 The Rot Golem
We also used this stage of the project as an opportunity to bring one more piece fully into the world of Mörktastic Beasts.
One of the original contributors to Ekphrastic Beasts, Ellie Livingston, created an illustration for the old Blazing Worlds Patreon after the original book was published—which I absolutely loved. I wanted commissioned Ellie to revisit and redo that piece for this expanded edition.
Here is the new Rot Golem:
It makes me happy that we get to fold this piece back into the larger project. Mörktastic Beasts is not just a conversion of the original 5e book into the world of MÖRK BORG. It is also a chance to gather up the strange little spores and fragments that grew around Ekphrastic Beasts after publication and give them a proper home.
We’ll share another finished beast as a backer-only preview in the next update.
⚔️ Where Things Stand
Right now:
- The Pledge Manager is ready and will open soon.
- Black Spire Pact will be available as an add-on.
- Stretch goal art is nearly complete.
- Lore and stats are beginning to move into their next stage.
- The book remains on schedule for October fulfillment.
That’s the update for now. This project continues to be a genuine pleasure to make: fast-moving, visually deranged, and full of the exact kind of creature logic that made us want to return to Ekphrastic Beasts in the first place.
Thank you again for helping us make it bigger, stranger, and more doomed.
More soon!
By Night,
Janaka
Janaka
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PROJECT UPDATE
Flaming Hand
CREATOR
2 months ago
Project Update: Pledge Manager + stretch goal art update
Hail, everyone!
It’s been a little over two weeks since the campaign closed, and I wanted to send a progress update before the end of the month.
The short version: the stretch goal art is underway, the Pledge Manager has been submitted to BackerKit for review, and the book continues to take shape behind the scenes.
⚔️ Stretch Goal Art
The new artwork is already beginning to come in. Caustic has submitted four final pieces so far and is working on the remaining illustrations now. Saprophrial has submitted concept art for all four pieces, and the direction is looking excellent. Johan Nohr and Justine Jones are both scheduled to complete their pieces over the next few weeks.
As final art arrives, I’ll begin writing the lore for each new creature and handing those entries off to Max for stats. This is one of the best parts of the process: that moment when the image stops being only an image and begins to reveal its name, its history, its temperament, its appetite.
We’ll share backer-only previews as pieces are finalized!
⚔️ Pledge Manager
We have also submitted the Pledge Manager to BackerKit for review. Once BackerKit approves it, a smoke test will go out to a small random cohort of backers first. That gives us a chance to shake out any bugs, confusing settings, shipping oddities, or strange edge cases before opening it up to everyone.
Assuming that goes smoothly, the full Pledge Manager will follow shortly after. We expect that to happen over the next week or two.
Once it’s live, you’ll be able to confirm your pledge, update your shipping information, select add-ons, and make any final adjustments. We’ll give everyone enough time to complete it before locking orders and finalizing print quantities.
⚔️ Where Things Stand
Right now, the main workstreams are moving in parallel:
- Stretch goal art is in progress.
- Lore and stats will begin rolling as final pieces arrive.
- The Pledge Manager is in BackerKit review.
We are still targeting October fulfillment, and nothing in the current timeline has changed that expectation. If anything shifts, we’ll let you know clearly.
⚔️ Preorders
Preorders remain open for anyone who missed the campaign, and will stay open as long as the pledge manager is live.
That’s the update for now. The next major milestone will be the Pledge Manager going live, followed by more finished art and backer-only previews as the new creatures arrive.
Thank you again for making this project possible. It means a great deal to be able to build a book like this the way we believe it should be built: artist-first, strange as hell, and made with real care.
More soon!
By Night,
Janaka
Janaka
Join the conversation on Discord 🕯️
Follow Flaming Hand on Instagram 🕯️
Delve deeper at flaminghand.com 🕯️
Follow Flaming Hand on Instagram 🕯️
Delve deeper at flaminghand.com 🕯️
PROJECT UPDATE
Flaming Hand
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: THANK YOU—AND NOW TO WORK!
Good morning everyone! ☕️
What a ride. The dust is still settling over here, and I wanted to write to say thank you—genuinely, deeply—for making this campaign what it was. We raised just shy of $40K from all of you, which is wild, and every one of those dollars represents somebody choosing to believe in a weird, lovingly crafted, artist-first book.
What a ride. The dust is still settling over here, and I wanted to write to say thank you—genuinely, deeply—for making this campaign what it was. We raised just shy of $40K from all of you, which is wild, and every one of those dollars represents somebody choosing to believe in a weird, lovingly crafted, artist-first book.
The original Ekphrastic Beasts launched in 2020, which is the same year Mörk Borg came out. We've been dreaming about making a Mörk Borg version of this book for years (in fact, that's part of what brought Max and I together under the Flaming Hand banner). To finally get to do it—with so much additional new art in the lineup, no less—feels like one of those projects that was always going to happen, it just had to wait until we were ready for it.
⚔️ Unlocked Stretch Goals
- The Apotheotic Arena Zine: a monster hunting arena game written by Max, free with every pledge 🤘
- Eight new creatures illustrated by Caustic 🤘
- Four new creatures illustrated by Saprophrial 🤘
- Three new creatures illustrated by Johan Nohr 🤘
- Three new creatures illustrated by Justine Jones 🤘
- Physical upgrades: silk ribbon marker, pink headbands and footbands, black trim stain, and metallic foil stamping on interior pages 🤘
The book started at 150+ pages and has grown to over 220—more than twice the length of the Mörk Borg core rulebook. This is going to be a chonky beast!
⚔️ Overview of the Next Steps
- The stretch goal artists get to work on their new illustrations. We'll post backer-only previews as pieces come in
- I begin writing lore for each new illustration as it lands in my inbox, and hand them off to Max for stats
- Finish layout and proofing
- Finalize production specs
- File in with with the book printer, the poster shop, and with the Campbell-Logan Bindery for the handmade Reliquary Editions
- Distribute digital files
- Receive inventory at the warehouse
- Begin fulfillment
Doesn't sound like much when I list it out, but each of those bullets contains a whole hidden ecosystem of smaller tasks. We'll keep you posted as things move, and are currently targeting an October fulfillment date.
⚔️ Pledge Manager
We're aiming to open the Pledge Manager by the end of next week, and hoping to lock orders around the beginning of May so we can finalize our print runs.
⚔️ Preorders
Preorders are live right now for anyone you know who's experiencing FOMO—note that the Apotheotic Arena Zine is no longer free with preorders and is available only as an add-on.
Monthly updates from here on out, sometimes more when there's something exciting to share. If you want to hang out between updates, we're always over on Discord—a great place to chat with other backers, ask questions, or just lurk the threads on occult, doom, and other high weirdness.
Thank you again. Truly. More soon!
"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure."
—Rilke
—Rilke
By Night,
Janaka
Join the conversation on Discord ⚔️🕯️
Follow Flaming Hand on Instagram ⚔️🕯️
Delve deeper at flaminghand.com ⚔️🕯️
PROJECT UPDATE
Flaming Hand
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: FINAL STRETCH GOAL + CONCEPT ART IN PLEDGES!
Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go 🎶
(ok, maybe just a few more hours than that: the campaign ends at 7p ET tomorrow!)
To kick things off today, we just added something special to the Reliquary Edition: every copy now includes an original piece of concept art by Nathan Reidt, hand-drawn in ink and graphite. These are one-of-a-kind works on paper—not prints, not reproductions. If you've been on the fence about the Reliquary, this might be the thing that pushes you over. There are very few left.
We also unlocked our $35K stretch goal yesterday: black trim stain all around, and metallic foil stamping on interior pages. The book keeps getting more beautiful and we keep being grateful!
Now the final stretch: we're $4K away from our final stretch goal. At $40K, Joe Keinberger paints an apocalyptic panoramic battle scene across the front and back endpapers of every copy. We have one day left to make it happen.
Share the campaign. Tag someone. Send the link to your group chat. Whatever you've got—today's the day!
While we wait for the world—uh, I mean, the campaign—to end, come hangout in the Flaming Hand Discord.
While we wait for the world—uh, I mean, the campaign—to end, come hangout in the Flaming Hand Discord.
⚔️🤘
—Janaka
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