Hi everyone!  Brett here with your monthly update on Fiendish Forge!

Here is where we are at:

Writing: 90%
Design: 80%
Art: 90%
Total: 86%

REVIEWED: 6%

We've made enough progress to be in the Review stage! We're reviewing each monster entry, ensuring everything is documented correctly and free of grammar/spelling errors.  We're also redesigning our stat blocks with our new 2024 Stat Block Design - and adjusting some numbers to align with 2024 5e.

I've been working hard to get a new stat block to align with 2024 5e's design. For the most part, I've enjoyed the latest design in the 2024 version of 5e, so I went ahead and redesigned our stat block to be more in line. In addition, I've taken inspiration from earlier versions of stat blocks, like 4e, to help present information necessary for GMs while condensing space on the stat block itself.  This has led to a ton of page space, allowing me to add more stat blocks and even lore entries onto the page.

I've been frustrated at the lack of monster-making mechanics in the newest version of 5e - and while you can still utilize 2014's rulesets, some changes have been made in 2024 where you'll see particular creatures don't have the same calculations as their 2014 counterparts.  I've been using Blog of Holding's findings to make these creatures with solid success. I have expanded the system to allow for more precise adjustments, including traits presented in 2014. As I continue to work on this and fine-tune it with Fiendish Forge, I'm confident that the monsters in our book will be compatible with 2024 5e's creatures.

More to the point, initially, we would have mechanics in place to make your own Elite and Boss CR creatures. In addition, we're including a new type of CR - Superboss - for those penultimate battles in your campaigns. I also hope to have standard monster-making mechanics in Fiendish Forge to compensate for what was not included in 2024! Right now, I'm working on a system that will make it easy for you, the GM, to create monsters quickly.  Even with 2014's rulesets, it was very complicated and easy to make mistakes when making monsters. Blog of Holding has a quick and easy ruleset if you're just looking for something fast. The system I'm designing will enable you to make something even more detailed with Monster Points (MP). You start with a set number of MP to increase a creature's stats above their standard limit, or even acquire specific traits such as Pack Tactics, or our new Legendary Resistance system. However, you can gain more MP by lowering a creature's stats below their standard limits, allowing you to do something, for example, have a creature with low AC but more HP. This system will enable you to fine-tune your monster the way you want it with an easy step-by-step process, and also ensure everything is correct by keeping track of the MP you're spending. I've been using it internally and it's been working great - allowing me to save a bunch of time on making new monsters and quickly adjust monsters we've already made for 2014 into 2024. I hope you're looking forward to it!

 

As I flesh out these creatures, there will be more playtests, although I am approaching the point where I've received all the necessary data. Rest assured, there will also be more previews shown, which is happening over at our IO Publishing Discord!  Be sure to join.  https://discord.gg/e9RCf8bFke 

 

Thank you for your continued support as we develop Fiendish Forge! Until next month!

Brett

Hi everyone!  Brett here with your monthly update on Fiendish Forge!

Here is where we are at:

Writing: 87%
Design: 74%
Art: 86%
Total: 82%

As we continue developing art for the book, I've been experimenting extensively with the current system. With SRD 5.2 out and able to create for 2024 5e Content, I've been reworking stat blocks to align with 2024 5e's Design.  Fortunately, the changes made in 2024 are now more in line with how we were designing our creatures (I've heard that my finger is on the pulse MULTIPLE times to the point it's driving me  up the wall).  However, because 2024 is embracing more cinematic combat (such as Legendary Actions with Move being a part of them) - I figured we'd also embrace more the 2024 side of 5e. 

Unfortunately, WotC has decided to withhold information on how to create creatures in 5e 2024 systems.  Fortunately, the community has filled in, and started to reverse engineer the process.  In the past few months, the Blog of Holding has been working on a breakdown of how 2024 5e now makes its monsters - and once again - it seems 5e 2024 has taken a page out of our book - making Legnedary Creatures more lethal in Damage stats (but strangely, not increasing their hit points). However, since this design philosophy seems to have taken hold, we're also reworking a little bit how we're handling some of our systems.

One of the biggest challenges with Phase Combat is the Phase Turns, which have led to much inquisition about how these additional turns are handled. We continue to add rules to solve these issues as they arise, but I've felt this approach starts to burden the system with these additions when simpler solutions are on the table.  That's why we're returning to "Legendary Actions" and "Legendary Resistance" as 5e has it, with some modifications of our own.

These Legendary Actions are also a part of "Phases" where you can find the Legendary Actions to take.  Phases present a ruleset on how to run the Phase, including when a Phase Advances (or Reverts in some cases).  We can also introduce Transition Phases - sort of an intermission mid-combat, where there may be some sort of trial the party has to overcome to avoid consequences before advancing to the next Phase.

We'll be playtesting this during the month of June, so be sure to join our Discord and sign up for our Playtests if you haven't done so already. I've got some more accessible Phase Encounters for test, as well as some complex Phase Encounters (such as the Sprite Mother) which features a bunch of new mechanics familiar to MMO Veterans. Stay tuned for that announcement!

Our Io Publishing Discord Server: https://discord.gg/e9RCf8bFke

We will be playtesting many of these values to see if any adjustments need to be made for the encounter's sake, and we're also introducing a "Superboss" category for creatures.  Be forewarned that you won't see many Superbosses in the book (right now, we only have one confirmed - the Astral Tarrasque) - but I wanted to introduce the option.

I want to start showing art pieces that our art team has worked on to get you guys excited. I was initially thinking about holding these pieces until the book's release, but I'm too excited to wait. This piece is the Vampire Lord - which transforms into a Demon when Bloodied!

Thank you for your continued support as we develop Fiendish Forge!  We will have more to show off very soon!
Brett

Hi everyone!  Brett here with your monthly update on Fiendish Forge!
We continue to work on the book and make some progress. Unfortunately, I had a complete computer failure (discovered it was a bad CPU), which slowed things down a little bit. Fortunately, no work was lost, and we have since resumed work!

With that, I'm very excited to share our Progress Report!

Here is where we are at:

Writing: 84%
Design: 69%
Art: 77%
Total: 77%

We have completed all of the Creature art! This means every creature's art piece is done! We're also 88% complete with all of our Quest Art, and are chipping away at Materials/Magic Items art, which will take a bit more time.

One of our bigger roadblocks was the fate of SRD 5.2, which allows us to make content and support for 2024 5e.  WotC has just released this out on the Creative Commons with the same terms as SRD 5.1 - so we can safely say that this book is both 2014 and 2024 5e Compatible!

We still have a while before we can begin the physical production of Fiendish Forge. We manufactured WSD:Fishing in China, so these new imposed tariffs (now at 145%) may cause some issues down the road.

Fortunately, we're working with our manufacturing partner to figure out the best course of action to produce and import our products into the country affordably, including working with different countries. Rest assured, we will find the most affordable way to make our products while maintaining a high level of quality. 

We have no current announcements on how this will affect shipping rates since many changes are expected over the next few months. If this current climate persists, some options may include covering the increased costs ourselves and increasing shipping rates to our backers. While I hope it does not come to that, we will try to find an amicable solution to minimize the increased production costs and any increased costs to our backers. Right now, it's just too soon to tell, so stay tuned for future announcements.

Thank you for your continued support as we develop Fiendish Forge!  We will have more to show off very soon!
Brett

Hi everyone!  Brett here with your monthly update on Fiendish Forge!
We made GREAT progress this month, especially with having to redo art assets we found may have been generated by an artist who used AI (that artist is no longer with us, and their work has been removed from the book). Check out our update here.

With that, I'm very excited to share our Progress Report!

Here is where we are at:

Writing:  80%
Design:  65%
Art:  69%
Total:  71%

We've been trying to streamline Phase Combat a bit more, making it easier for the reader to create their Phase Combat creatures! The more we streamline, the more our system will remain in the spirit of 5e systems.

I'm hoping we may resume playtests in April, but we'll keep you all updated! Playtest docs will also include art assets so you guys can see what we've been working on!

We're still waiting for Wizards of the Coast to release their newest version of the SRD so we can officially state our product is compatible with 2024 5e systems (such as Dungeons and Dragons).  While I was hopeful we would have received an update by now - it's currently still quiet.  There are murmurs that the SRD is being worked on. No matter what the outcome is, this will not slow down our work as we are still able to use the current SRD which is in Creative Commons.

Thanks for your support! Feel free to comment if you have any questions; otherwise - see you all next month!
Brett