Hail Wanderers!
Today I want to give you a bit of a full sit rep on what's going on with physical goods, including where we're at, what's taken so long and what's next!
Why...
Hail Wanderers!
Just a bit of a shorter one today as I will be back on Monday for a slightly more comprehensive update!
First I have the promised previews, our completely c...
4
0
7
The Dragons Vault
about 1 month ago
GM Screen and Celtic D20!
Hail and Well Met Valiant Wanderer's!
As promised by Conor last week I come bearing a couple more sample previews as well as an update on a couple of things I've heard discu...
3
0
1
The Dragons Vault
about 1 month ago
Happy New Year! We’ve Got Samples!
Hail and well met wanderers,
What a year 2025 was, and in no small part to all of you! Aston and myself have taken some time off, but are back in the Vault now and ready to ...
4
0
4
The Dragons Vault
2 months ago
End of Year Sign Off and last call for address changes!
Hail Wanderers!
As we rapidly approach the turning of the Calendar I'm just hopping in to let you know where we're at and where we will be given the new year! As a small not...
7
0
2
Aston
3 months ago
Updated Shipping Timeline!
Hail Wanderers!
Bit of a wordy one today as I'm gonna catch you guys up on everything currently going on on our side, we'll start with the most important and relevant bits f...
Today I want to give you a bit of a full sit rep on what's going on with physical goods, including where we're at, what's taken so long and what's next!
Why has it been taking so long?
So we held off on a lot of production at the tail end of last year because we wanted to wait for better news on the tariff situation, unfortunately as a small company the tariff bill attached to literally 10's of thousands of pounds of physical goods could have ruined us. During this time we've been able to also source a new distribution partner that will provide more reliable distribution for our world wide customers so waiting was a pretty good choice! But also once we started to move forward with production myself and Conor got our hands on the goods and there were a number of minor errors that required a back and forth including sending samples to and from our manufacturer while we nailed down the best products we could for you guys.
Where are we at right now?
So as of right now our goods are in production with our manufacturer, we have had assurances from them that they'll be finished by the time we hit chinese new year (this was important to us as otherwise it'd incur further delays when our manufacturer took time off for the holidays!).
What's next?
So once our goods finish up in the factories we'll be having them hauled across the world to our various distribution centres across the world. Once they begin that journey we'll input each of your orders onto our partner's system so they know what's going where etc! It is around this time that you should start receiving shipping notifications!
So that's where we're at on shipping, next just a couple of small points I wanna re-cover from last weeks update: First of all, Blightmoor is still coming this week! If you already have it in your pledge it'll hit your inboxes the same as all the other digital goods, if you don't it'll go up on our E-store at the same time! Next the Gauntlet final hits today! The final round of our ongoing creature creation competition is now live over in the discord and its been a tough fight with some fierce competition. As always make sure you go and make your votes heard in the Discord! Finally, we're having a bit of a roundtable discussion stream this Sunday to go over various Lodestar and Faerie bits and pieces, we'd be thrilled for y'all to be there!
As always, we're thankful for your patience and understanding with Faerie. We know it's taken longer than any of us would have liked but unfortunately various world events over the past year have vastly changed global shipping and manufacturing. Have a wonderful week and hopefully we'll see you on Sunday!
Just a bit of a shorter one today as I will be back on Monday for a slightly more comprehensive update!
First I have the promised previews, our completely custom Witches Grimoire and the Deck Boxes for our Spell & Item Cards! The Grimoire is a particular favourite of mine, as I assume many of you also are, I am a bit of a fiend for Stationary so getting to work on our own custom notebooks is a genuine joy. As for the spell and item cards... they're just gorgeous! A bit of Conor's custom art combined with some tastefully applied metallic gilding? Incredible!
Next, we've noticed alot of you aren't seeing the updates hit your inbox or at the top of the page so in hopes we can keep y'all in the loop a little we've sent notifications out on this update to everyone rather than just backers. For those that haven't seen an update in a little while: Hey! We hope the new year is treating you well! If you wanna make sure you can keep a bit more of a finger on the pulse with things then feel free to hop on over to our Discord! As a bit of a quick run down of where we are right now: Faerie hasn't shipped yet, we are looking at getting final timelines to you next week! (If we can wrench them from the cold corporate hands of our manufacturer!)
The Gauntlet Closes...
As of Monday we will be launching our final vote over in the Discord for the first ever Vault Gauntlet! Right now the second Semi-Final is running and these last few rounds have been Incredibly tight so please go and show all of the wonderful entrants some love!
Blightmoor Beckons
For those of you that have been waiting on it prepare yourselves! The Beast of Blightmoor is about to make itself known. Next week we will be launching the final piece of content for Faerie! It's been something I've been elbow deep in for the last little while but it is finally coming together! For those that don't know, Beast of Blightmoor is our intro adventure for Faerie: meant as an easy to run adventure that will introduce a new party to the themes of the setting! As soon as it's finished we'll also be popping it up on ourE-Store! So be sure to keep an eye out if you didn't pick it up during the campaign!
Fancy a Chat?
On Monday we'll be announcing something new we're trying out this year, something of a roundtable/FAQ stream that we'll be running once a month, part of it will be dedicated to Lodestar but we will also be making room to have a bit of a yap about the state of Faerie, talking about the reasoning behind delays and such so check back in and make sure you're subscribed to our Youtube Channel if you're interested! We will be taking questions about our content and beyond so we'd love to see y'all there!
Okay maybe that wasn't actually shorter than usual but I will still be back on Monday! Until then I can probably fit one more TPK level encounter into Blightmoor.... Have a wonderful weekend gang! Aston
Welcome one and all to the first annual VAULT GAUNTLET! Monsters have arrived from all across the realm to battle it out for your approval, and only one may be crowned champion!
This update will be edited as new bouts are settled, and our single elimination tournament progresses to its final fight!
Guidelines for Voting
Now a short reminder before you enter our gauntlet stands to cheer for your favoured champion, there are some criteria for your voting.
We are voting on the coolest creature concept, not the coolest art!
Make sure to read the description of each contender before voting!
You get a single vote per battle, so choose wisely!
Community Favourite
Whilst the battles occur here, we have a community poll going on in the Vault Discord for people to pick a community favourite to receive the Community Favourite Award!
The Gauntlet Bracket
🔴 BATTLE ONE | DOR-CÙ vs BELLADOLLA
🔴 BATTLE TWO | SCÁHAR vs CAIDFETH 🔴 BATTLE THREE | SAOLREADH vs SCÉAL DAMHÁN 🟢 BATTLE THREE | SHELLAKYBOOKY vs FALSE DRYAD The bells have rung, and two competitors enter!
The Shellakybooky Name: Marko, Hana
Creature: Molluskus & Mossling.
Molluski are tremendously old creatures, so old they don't even remember their own creation. No one really knows how old they are or how old they can live, not even them. This particular molluskus is called Shellakybooky and lives underground caring for their subterranean grove. Laky, as Sagina likes to call them, could very well be the last of their kind. But who could say. Molluski tend to be very solitary creatures and Laky is no different. Fully grown molluski are giant creatures with slimy thick grey skin and a huge hard shell on their backs that doubles as their armour and house. They have big pointy noses for smelling danger or pleasure. Two big arms in the front make them formidable foes despite their sluggish movements, but they tend to use them for good. They secrete slime that sprouts multicoloured flowers that last around twelve hours and have healing qualities. The slime itself is sticky enough to cause trouble for the careless. A long time ago, all molluski went to live underground as they wanted to be untethered by the affairs of others. They were the ones always trying to fix things that others broke, until one day it was their patience that broke. They found underground holes, pits, caves, caverns, hollows, burrows, delves and dens and turned them into their habitats where they discovered their love for gardening. Molluski make their homes under the oldest of forest groves, where the tree roots run deep and strong. A dense magical canopy of blooming roots covers the roof of molluski lairs. They cover the roots with their latent magical slime which makes them sprout leaves and flowers and even fruit. Every molluski slime sprouts different coloured flowers. Shellakybookys canopy is full of blue and indigo flowers with a few white ones scattered here and there and an occasional pink lady apple. Molluski are not symbiotic creatures by nature, but Laky couldn't resist Saginas charms when he woke up one morning with her feasting on the magical fruits and flowers. Neither of them knows where she comes from nor how she got there. Maybe the magical slime sprouted the mossling into being or she materialised out of thin air. Whatever the reason for Saginas existence, Laky and her have been inseparable ever since. She keeps them company and they produce the food she needs and enjoys very much. Sagina lives on Shellakybookys shell, a house on a house in a house if you wish. They take care of the grove together, in peace, until someone stumbles in uninvited. Mosslings are completely covered in squishy soft moss. They can lie completely flush to the surface and be indistinguishable from their surroundings. They fill their lair with the same omnivorous moss they are made from. They devour their prey by encompassing them and slowly digesting them. Laky and Sagina are a symbiotic creature, inseparable in every way as they share their lifeline and lifestyle and should be treated as such.
The False Dryad Name: Rachel
Creature Name: False Dryad
Those who wander the woods know of the elusiveness of the dryad, to see one with your own eyes is an excitingly rare occasion but caution is always advised when dealing with them not just because of the dryad’s might but also because of chance that you might have attracted the attention of a false dryad. Much like its name implies the false dryad carries the same visage of a dryad but has a much more malevolent nature. This creature uses the dryad's reputation as a guardian of the woodlands to attract its prey, animal, beast and people alike. Its hunting technique consists of tracking down its prey before trying to catch its attention by partially hiding, if the prey doesn't investigate the false dryad will step out of hiding and try to beckon its prey towards itself, if the prey stays still or doesn't approach quickly enough the false dryad will take it upon itself to approach, once close enough the false dryad will reveal itself by lunging at the prey to devour it. The false dryad has many weapons in its arsenal to take out its prey, like most other monsters the most common one they use is their mouth. While one might mistake its mouth as the lips underneath where its nose appears to be that is actually just another feature of its fake face, the false dryad's actual mouth appears when it splits its fake face open and reveals spiked ridges, much like a venus fly trap the false dryad will clamp its mouth on its prey and use its digestive fluid to consume the ensnared prey. While the mouth is typically used for smaller prey or the heads of larger prey in order to digest large or multiple smaller prey it'll use its stomach. The stomach of the false dryad is hidden where one might assume the neck would be this of course is another trick from false dryad as it is a disguise for the gaping plant like maw that takes up the entirety of its torso, this maw can distend in order to fit much larger prey for digestion. Besides its claw-like finger tips the last weapon of the false dryad are its tongues. The false dryad has two tongues one in its mouth and one in its stomach, these tongues are both long and prehensile and covered in barbs and a saliva like acid. The smaller tongue is located in the mouth and can escape through the fake mouth to capture prey or alongside the real mouth to speed up the digestion process. Needless to say that these monsters are exceptionally dangerous, the best way to avoid becoming prey is to pay close attention to see the incongruencies present in the false dryad. The most prominent one is the use of its “hair” to cover up both its false and real necks and the presence of red coloration.
We arrive today with a new challenge for those of you bold enough, to determine who is capable of crafting the greatest monster within the realm! Whilst we work diligently to get Faerie and other goods into your hands, we thought we might give chance for the creatively-inclined of this community to share their talents and battle for victory! We are an artist-lead company after all, what better way to pass these final weeks until delivery day...
We will also return as normal with an update on Monday about Faerie physical and digital fulfilment, so don't fret there. Now onto todays special event:
The Vault Gauntlet
The challenge is simple, participants have until October 6th 2025 to create a monster, beast, or mythical creature that would fit within the realm of Faerie. It can be inspired by something within Faerie already (such as a new type of fomorian) or a wholly original creation that you imagine might dwell in the realm. This piece can be in any visual medium, be it pencil or paint, 3D sculpture or miniature kitbash; you might do a charcoal drawing, a watercolour sketch, or even make an unholy effigy from twig and bone (though we can't be held responsible for the animation of any malevolent poppets as a result).
The most important thing is that your design and idea be inventive and interesting; this isn't a competition of pure artistic talent, everyone who wants to is encouraged to take part (even the less experienced), it is a battle to see whom amongst you has the *coolest creature idea* this side of the menhir ring!
Once you have designed your monstrous champion, you may submit your entry to the gauntlet in the #guantlet-entry channel in the Dragons Vault discord.
If you'd like us to see and share your work on our Instagram, please tag us @thedragonsvault and use the hashtag #VAULTGAUNTLET to make sure we see it!
Choosing Champions
These champions will then be pitted against one another in a single elimination tournament, voted for by you the community here on Backerkit! Each pairing will result in a single winner, and after the dust has settled only one creature shall remain as ruling Champion of the Gauntlet!
A poll will also be present in the Dragon's Vault Discord, tallying a running vote on all entrants at once; the winner of which shall be granted the Community Favourite Award.
Myself and Aston shall then take our own vote on who we think has the coolest creature concept of the lot, and award that entrant with the coveted, and completely original,Vault Warden's Choice Award™.
Prizes
Champion of the Gauntlet. The creator of the creature crowned champion shall win a deluxe box set of Faerie (shipping included), containing all physical and digital rewards (including stretch goals).
Community Favourite Award. The creator of the creature that summits the Community Favourite poll on our Discord shall win one digital add-on and one physical add-on of their choosing (shipping included).
Vault Warden's Choice Award™. The champion chosen by Aston and Myself shall win its creator a collectors edition copy of Faerie: A Realm Wanderer's Guide (shipping included), the Vault Digital Collection, and free shipping for life on all future Dragons Vault crowdfunding campaigns (for use on a single pledge per campaign only!).
Where to Submit
You may submit your entry to the gauntlet in the #guantlet-entry channel in the Dragons Vault discord. We will collate all of the entries once the deadline has ended, and present them all here to be voted on!
Submission Guidelines
Submissions must be in the form of jpegs or png, physical works must be submitted as a photograph of that work.
Submissions must be accompanied by your name, and a description of your creature no more than 500 words long.
Submissions must be entered in the #gauntlet-entry channel on discord.
Creatures should be designed to fit within the feudal Celtic myth of Faerie, and will be judged on their merits as concepts rather than solely on artistic skill.
Art must be your own or that of your partner submitter, and must be created for this competition. No entering previously designed, haggard old monsters unless you want them mulched up and fed as kibble to the true competitors.
Absolutely no ai or ai derivative works. If you attempt to enter ai "artwork" you will be disqualified, and I will personally hire a witch to curse your family name for eternity.
The Gauntlet Rules
Anyone may enter the gauntlet, backers and non-backers alike, but only backers may vote to decide who amongst many will be crowned Champion of the Gauntlet!
Two people may enter a single creature submission as a pair, one creating art and the other creating the lore/concept.
Each entrant may only submit a single piece of work to the Gauntlet for judgement. A submission as part of a pair excludes both members of that team from also submitting individually.
FAQ
If your question isn't covered below feel free to comment on this post and we will answer posthaste!
Can my friend who didn't back or preorder Faerie enter? Absolutely, they won't be able to vote for the Champion of the Gauntlet, but might win Community Favourite or the oh so sumptuous Vault Warden's Choice Award™.
I have a cool monster idea and my friend is an artist, can we enter together? In the time honoured tradition as laid down by the prestigious TV hit "Robot Wars", you may indeed enter a single monster crafted by two people (but no more than two). If you do submit as a pair, please don't submit again individually, and make sure to name both participants in your joint submission.
How do prizes work for pairs? If a submission entered by two people wins any of the awards, both members will receive any digital prizes. If a pair is chosen for the Vault Warden's Choice Award™ both shall win free shipping for life. Physical prizes are limited to one per entry though, so you will need to decide between the two of you who shall receive them!
I don't have discord, can I still enter? We really encourage entry via discord, this is a community event and we want everyone to discuss entrants together in one place. That being said, if you absolutely, unequivocally want no part in discord, you may send your entry to us on instagram @thedragonsvault. You'll need to follow us for the message to go through though so keep that in mind!
What is your perfect Sunday? Thank you so much for asking; my perfect Sunday would be pancakes in the morning, followed by a long walk on a pebble beach, then a home cooked meal, and topped with a candlelight viewing of 1986 smash hit "Big Trouble in Little China".
We have been busy over the last week making amendments to Faerie based on the wonderful insights of our community over on discord (massive thank you to all who contributed), and making headway on further rewards!
So to begin, Faerie: A Realm Wanderer’s Guide is now available to all backers as an amended, single page PDF. You should be able to grab it the same place as the first release!
Also, if you missed your chance to back Faerie, the nearly 300 page PDF is now also available over on our store; alongside our other works: DragonsVault.shop
TheTimeline as of Today
The book is now finished in its entirety, and has been sent off to our printer for preliminary proofing. I will be finalising the remainder of files needed for production of physical goods this week, to be sent off this weekend. I will then be completing digital goods, which will release the following week. The only exception to this is the Beasts of Blightmoor introductory adventure, which I’ll cover in more detail further down this update ⬇️
Beyond this we don’t yet have concrete dates, though I expect this will change very soon. Once manufacture begins we should get a clearer idea of the final physical fulfilment timeline, which we will inform you of as soon as we are made aware of it!
In the meantime Aston will be keeping you all informed in updates, which is also where you can expect to see the earliest looks at physical goods once they’ve gone into production!
The Faerie Deep Dive
For those of you who missed it, Aston and myself did a 5 hour long stream a week ago where we took a deep dive into the books production cover to cover. You can check out that directors commentary of sorts over on our YouTube channel TheDragonsVault right now!
Looking to the Future, Lodestar & Beyond!
My days working on Faerie are now drawing to a close, which means soon I shall be handing over to Aston so that he can helm the final leg of the journey as the goods get made and shipped to you, whilst I move on to our next project. Once we have more to share on that project you will all be the first to know, but in the meantime I wanted to give you all a more comprehensive look at how things are going to go from the Vault side of things:
As the vast majority of our income currently stems crowdfunded projects such as Faerie, we have to move quickly from the completion of one project to the development of another. Which means that once all of my creative work on Faerie has wrapped (save for Beasts of Blightmoor) I will immediately begin developing and marketing our next book Lodestar. I will complete work on Blightmoor once I have the pre-campaign development for Lodestar finished, which means it will release just after the launch of Lodestar & during Faerie’s final stretch of physical fulfilment. This might seem a little chaotic, but this way I can use the more open schedule I enjoy during the month long campaign to focus and get Blightmoor done without delaying the launch of our next book. Perhaps in the future we will be more than a company of 2 (one full time and one part-time), and I won’t need to cover so much creative ground at once, but for now this is the only way we can get everything done in a timely fashion!
This timing also means that Lodestar will begin marketing, and may even launch, before physical fulfilment of Faerie is complete for some of you. As stated above, this is just a result of us not having any time to wait between projects; but I would like to make it clear that this will have no impact on Faerie’s fulfilment timeline, as Aston will remain wholly focussed on Faerie until fulfilment is complete, only after which will he be free to join me on Lodestar. I just wanted to outline all of this to give some insight into how this all works on our end, and to prevent any unnecessary confusion as to where we are focussing our energy!
Thanks everyone who stuck around to read all of that; I know it’s a lot to get through, but we’ve always tried to be as open and honest with you all as possible so I didn’t want to spare any boring details.
That’s it for now! As I said, Aston will be back here very soon with more details on fulfilment. I will also be back once I have completed the last of the digital rewards, so that I can say a final farewell to my time here with you all on Faerie!
In the mean time, I hope you’re all loving the book, it’s been beyond wonderful hearing all of the feedback and experiences that have already bloomed in this strange realm of ours!
