100k+ Reached! A huge thank you...
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 20, 2022 at 10:31:35 PM
Hey star crew!
I thought that it was more fitting to make a video for this update because it is far more important than any of the other ones.
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What was said in the video, but in Text
On behalf of the Starlight Arcana team, thank you so much. And also, I personally want to say a huge thank you because you helped me make a huge dream come true.
Reached 110k and we are not stopping. Despite the fact that we are small creators with an unimaginably low reach, our project seems to have reached so many of you and you are all showing an amazing amount of appreciation for the hard work we have put in to create this monstrosity of a book.
I will be the first one to say that I was personally not expecting any of this. I did not even expect us to reach all of the stretch goals actually and yet here we are now.
We are actively discussing adding a couple more stretch goals to the campaign with something special (yes, even more, special than a full bard songs album!) and we will reveal all of those in upcoming updates. So stay tuned for those!
Your comments and responses to the project, the updates, and everything else we have shared with you have been absolutely stunning and we are humbled to be receiving all of this support from all of you.
I want you to know that way before we even considered running this Kickstarter project, we started making sure that everything will come together in a proper manner so that we can deliver something that we believe would be a fantastic and memorable experience. And we want to deliver that in the best possible way.
We are constantly looking into better shipping solutions (despite the huge problems that exist right now for shipping stuff across the globe) and we are constantly trying to think of what else we can offer you.
The previous update we put out was extremely important to us actually because we wanted to show how serious we are about building this book, the universe around it, and how we plan to expand it. We wanted to do something more than just making Starlight Arcana No.2 which would be a "project to make money" such as "ALYA'S GUIDE TO THE STARS" (since everyone seems to be naming them that way lately), we really wanted to show you what we have planned and how far we are willing to explore the Sea of Stars. I personally do not want to build just "more content". I want to build fun and engaging stories, interesting and intuitive mechanics, and best of all, memorable experiences.
So thank you once again, and until next time...
May Starlight guide your way my friends.
~Kelf
15th Stretch Goal + Releases Roadmap + Bard Songs!
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 05:17:16 AM
Hey explorers of the Sea of Stars!
We reached 95k quite a few hours ago but I promised myself I would sleep properly before writing another update which is why this is a bit late. We are going so fast that updates need to come out non-stop for all of the new stretch goals we've unlocked!
That being said, we are now going for the final stretch goal at 100k and it is a big one. That does not mean that there won't be any other stretch goals, but if we do decide to add more, they will be added a bit later because we are still busy trying to figure out a few things here and there to see what we can actually add. We have a few ideas but it is really important for us to be realistic so we don't want to promise anything we cannot actually deliver.
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15th Stretch Goal - Next Project REVEAL!
A few of you have actually asked us a few times already "so what is the plan for after Starlight Arcana?"
We also had questions like "are you going to expand Starlight Arcana in any way in the future?"
We can now reveal a few things that will give answers to most of these questions. So today, I will be explaining our roadmap for the future of the Starlight Chronicles (SC) setting.
The Interactive Website for the Setting
The SC setting started when we felt the need to connect all of the Patreon releases. Adventures, Side Quests, Dungeon Tales and other types of content, all needed to be connected in some way so that if you want to combine any of the Kelfecil's Tales content, you could have a coherent connection between everything. With that, came the birth of the SC setting and the need for supplements. As soon as we started doing supplements and also started visually showing the world of the setting, we decided we had to go all the way and actually give everyone as much access to the setting as possible.
Right now, we are working on an interactive website that will allow anyone to explore the base planet/world of Latakar where everything began. I wanted to make it easy for users to access any information they need without having to download tons of PDFs and flip through thousands of pages. I also wanted to reward top-tier Patrons who have had access to Setting Supplements (Codex Supplements) with an easier and more organized way of accessing that content. Next to that, we are also doing an awesome filterable list for all of the setting's monsters so that those are easier to find and download should someone want to use one.
How does that connect to Starlight Arcana though?
Starlight Arcana is going to be the biggest and most important release in the SC setting. No matter how everything else has been written, Starlight Arcana is the go-to book when it comes to playing a game in the SC setting. It explains the galaxy and the sea of stars in ways that they were never touched upon before.
But how is the website affecting Starlight Arcana in any way whatsoever?
Well, simply put, the website is going to expand continuously to accommodate all of the content available in the SC setting. As a GM, you will be able to navigate through the interactive pages and explore the galaxy without having to flip through pages of any adventure or book. As a player, you will be able to see what is out there without getting too spoiled on information.
It is important to note that 1) the website will take a while before it is up and running as we are working on it one step, one page at a time and 2) Starlight Arcana's information will not all be on the website as it would make the book less special if everything was available online (we are trying to figure out ways to make it unlocked only for book holders, but that is a whole other story).
But what about expanding Starlight Arcana?
Well, except for all the new Patreon content that just comes out by the ton every month, Starlight Arcana will be expanded with a series of big supplement releases. We have prepared a roadmap to show you exactly what they are and when they are going to release.
- July 2023 to August 2023 - Starlight Arcana is delivered to backers. (hopefully a bit earlier)
- October 2023 - 1st SC Supplement release - The Astral Summoner's Grimoire
- January 2023 - 2nd SC Supplement release - Sailing the Stars
- April 2023 - 3rd SC Supplement release
- July 2023 - 4th SC Supplement release
We will reveal more about the supplements in upcoming updates and maybe even reveal some of the plans that we have for them. As you know very well by now, we try to be extremely well organized when it comes to the content we produce, so just like with Starlight Arcana, these supplements are actually already in production and should be completed before Starlight Arcana even ships out.
I will say it once again to put even more emphasis on it; I always want to be organized and one step ahead so that if something comes up, there won't be any delays or issues with delivering the final product that we promise to people that have supported us in making it.
How will these be available?
The main idea, for now, is to make these available on release as PDFs on our website and also publish them on DriveThruRPG for a slightly higher price so that you have the possibility to order a physical softcover copy. The price is going to be around 10 EUR for each one and they are going to be a least 100 pages long (if not more) with tons more to add to your Starlight Arcana campaigns or your 5e games in general.
The SC supplements will be designed in such a way that they work really well with Starlight Arcana but can also offer tons of options even if you don't have Starlight Arcana.
There is also the idea of running a Kickstarter in the future to offer them all together as part of a larger collection, but that is something we are still considering and not sure about just yet.
Other Supplements?
A few of you actually already asked about a few other things that we have plans to make (such as the Magitech items) but we would like to first come up with ideas to realize them in an interesting and fun way. If for example, we were to make an items compendium, I think that would be absolutely and mind-numbingly boring. There are a thousand other 3rd party 5th edition item compendiums out there with fantastic artwork and some really cool ideas. So if we are to make something for items, we would have to make it something extremely interesting.
We even had the idea of releasing the Destined Artifacts as a separate supplement which would allow us to add more to the story and although that is still an idea that is on the table, we just could not justify it as something interesting enough yet to make as a full (or part of a) release.
Making things for the sake of "Making things"
We don't want boring and repetitive content. We want to make fun and memorable experiences so we would rather spend some time coming up with something new, rather than just churning out the same things everyone else makes for the sake of just "selling" content.
The above statement is not a criticism in regard to what other creators make but rather a personal preference. If someone wants to make the 200th Xanathar's Guide to Everything or the 1000th Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, then good for them and I hope their project does great. As a consumer though, just like I don't want, or have time, to play 10 different versions of Gloomhaven, the same way I don't want to read 10 supplements that have a random assortment of new classes, ancestries, and spells.
If the theme of the book is cohesive, the mechanics are new and interesting and the stories are engaging, then I will gladly read it and even use it in my games.
I had little to no interest in roleplaying a 10-year-old Swedish kid in an alternative 80s setting and yet Tales from the Loop was such a unique experience that I have now read all of the books and have played it over 30 times in just a couple of years.
Being a Narrative Designer
It is important to remember that a DM is not a writer and a writer is not a narrative or game designer. I believe that the reason why we have so many supplements and books that literally do the same thing without adding anything new is because there are more DMs writing than there are writers or designers.
I by no means consider myself an amazing narrative designer or writer but I do try to hone my skills on a daily basis and that is also why I value and prefer unique designs and products when it comes to my own entertainment.
So, having mentioned all of that, I would also like to say; thank you for trusting me with providing you the experience that is Starlight Arcana and I only hope to deliver something fun and awesome for you to play with your friends at your TTRPG table!
(You will read me saying "thank you" a thousand more times, but you seriously cannot imagine how much I mean that every time I say it.)
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The Final Stretch Goal...
When I started designing the project a year or so ago I never imagined we would be doing as well as we are today. We had much about the same idea when we were starting to make "estimates" and whatnot a couple of months ago as well.
So when I was designing the stretch goals, I of course put the monetary goals a bit far apart from each other but not too far. I took into account the fact that projects go much slower after 48 hours and I imagined that we would unlock about 5-6 goals overall if the project does well.
As you can imagine, with those thoughts in mind, I designed the 100k goal to be something spectacular since the idea was that we would most probably not reach it anyway.
Well... it looks like we are definitely reaching it now...
You are probably wondering "can that guy even sing or play music?"
To answer your question, I have attached one of the silly little songs I wrote one night to accompany one of the Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure style stories that you can play before playing the TTRPG adventure itself) that I made for one of the adventures I was going to release.
You can also download the adventure and the gamebook from the link below:
FREE Download Link - Bone King's Tomb Adventure + Gamebook
This is a much older release, so you will notice a huge difference in product quality.
Music Background?
For a bit more background on this; I actually have quite a bit of experience with music since I have studied music for many years in conservatories (both classical and jazz) and toured with a couple of bands as a singer. My main instrument of choice was guitar since I loved what you can do with it in any kind of genre (especially post-rock and jazz) but I ended up mostly singing for jazz and rock bands throughout the years.
My career as a professional musician came to an end when I one day decided that I did not want music to be something I do professionally since it did not allow me to fully enjoy it as much as I wanted to. From there I turned to journalism to learn how to be a professional writer and then to narrative design and I have continued with it ever since.
I thought it was a cool little addition to the project and I felt that it would allow me to add even more of a personal touch in a different manner this project. I received amazing feedback when I shared the first Bard's Tale (Gamebook) but I did not have the chance to continue them after that, so this is the perfect opportunity to make a big Bard's Tales release.
A Wandering Bard?
The album will come with a small PDF that will explain how you can introduce a bard NPC in your Starlight Arcana campaign that the players will meet and listen to as he sings of things that transpired and things that are yet to come. The PDF will explain all of the ways you can use this new NPC and how to implement the album of Bard's Tales into your own game.
I really hope you will enjoy listening to this (and maybe even using it in your games!) as much as I will enjoy recording it!
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Social Stretch Goal Unlocks!
(Link to Social Stretch Goals and Unlocks)
+75 Followers on Instagram - Nex's Portrait
(Artwork by Swetha)
Nex, the Scientist, is a crazy little goblin and one of the main NPCs that players will get to meet while running the Starlight Arcana campaign!
Next will join the group in a rather... unexpectedly explosive manner... and will help the players with understanding peculiar and alien technologies that they will come across while traveling in the Sea of Stars and exploring new Worlds.
Here's an early sketch of Nex that Swetha made when she was creating various ideas of how she would look like:
I had so much fun designing this character as she works as the bridge that connects the science and the starlight magic that exists in the SC setting!
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In the next update, we will talk more about the Sea of Stars and some other Stretch Goal plans that we have (in case we end up adding more)!
Till the next update...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
14th Stretch Goal + Fate mechanic + Bonus Content!
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 12:42:15 AM
Hey fate weavers!
This update was the first one that I actually did not manage to publish as soon as we hit the next stretch goal, just because we went so fast that I was caught completely off guard.
For the thousandth time; thank you all so much for helping us make this book an actual real thing!
On to the cool stuff!
(Please keep in mind that this update was written at 04:30 past midnight, so I may have made a couple of typos and mistakes here and there!)
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14th Stretch Goal - The Fate of Stars UNLOCKED!
By reaching 90k, you helped us unlock my absolute favorite of all the Stretch Goals. The Fate mechanic will be expanded upon and made even more interesting and fun for both GMs and players.
I loved the idea of having some sort of mechanic in your game where you would be able to use tarot cards and maybe even other means to read your fate as a player and have some agency in altering it.
If you would like to know more about this, scroll down to the trivia part of the update as I explain more about my design ideas and thoughts on the Fate mechanic.
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Next up...
While this is not a Stretch Goal that will add more things to Starlight Arcana, a lot of you have been asking me non-stop what could and would come after Starlight Arcana is in everyone's hands. Well... I got great news for you... but I will reveal that news once we hit 95k!
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The Fate of Stars
(Fate Weaver Sorcerer Artwork by the amazing Bamvart)
The base of the Starlight Chronicles is the starlight magic that connects everything. In the Starlight Arcana campaign and in the world that you will be able to explore, fate, destiny, and magic are all woven together in an intricate manner that only a few mortal beings manage to understand in just one lifetime. Those that are able to comprehend the complex nature of the threads of fate are able to not only see their future but also weave those threads in various different ways.
Fate Weaver Sorcerers are by far the most renowned wielders of such knowledge and power. However, one does not need to be one in order to understand and even read their own fate in the stars. You simply need to believe and trust in the stars in order to see the true paths that are available for you.
The Fate mechanic is a brand new mechanic that I personally developed for TTRPGs and more specifically made it so that it is easily compatible with 5th edition DnD. Building the first parts of Latakar and later expanding the world of the Starlight Chronicles setting gave me so many ideas as to how the creatures of this world perceive their fate, their destiny, and more importantly the magic of the world they live in.
Starlight magic is something that goes way beyond the use of astral spells and powers in order to obliterate your adversaries. When wielded by someone with greater understanding, starlight magic has the potential of showing you the world in a completely different manner. You are able to see the threads that connect the fates of all creatures in multiple ways and with this power, come choices. Will you choose to protect those threads, or will you alter them to fit your vision of the future?
Reweaving the threads of fate, however, does not necessarily mean that everything will go as planned. The infinitely complex connection between all the threads in the cosmos makes reweaving fate a difficult and extremely dangerous task. People with the power to change fate are also in turn extremely dangerous. This is exactly why the fate weavers were even hunted during one of the darkest eras of Latakar's history.
Playing with Fate, for Players
As a player, the Fate mechanic will allow you to find unique items (such as tarot cards) throughout your journey that will allow you to understand what is to come. While the result of these signs can be convoluted and weird at first, more and more will make sense as you move forward in your story and collect more signs.
Alternatively, players will occasionally get the chance to have their fate read by an expert such as a high-level Fate Weaver. These readings work very similarly to the signs and will allow a player to discover a lot more in a smaller amount of time (but also at potentially a greater cost).
We explained in a past update that Fate Weavers in your group will make the most use of the Tarot deck if they go down the path of cartomancy. However, other classes and subclasses can also slowly gather signs that will allow them to slowly discover their own legacy.
Playing with Fate, for GMs
The whole reason why I developed this mechanic, is because I wanted players to feel more connected to the campaign story they are experiencing and even more so allow the GM to play around with the personal narrative of each of their players in an easy and effortless manner.
Fate reading can be extremely fun as the GM is given a lot of options as to how they could go about interpreting a lot of the fate reading that will happen using the tarot cards for example. There will also be examples for other types of fate reading and extensive rules on how to use signs that your players will find throughout their adventures.
The Fate mechanic is basically my solution to getting the players more involved by giving them something that the GM does not have to prepare hours for.
A great example of that would be when the players come up with wild narratives so that they may explain what is going on in their campaign. All these ideas and thoughts are things that the GM could listen to and actually implement so that it is an actual part of the story. This is a very fun way to keep your players engaged with the story but what is more important here is to mention that a lot of people want to have their own epic and personal story for their character that slowly develops with each new session in your campaign.
What I am trying to do here is to make the Fate mechanic as approachable as possible and give the GMs something that will easily allow them to get closer to the players and their characters' stories.
Fate in Starlight Arcana
This could be considered a small spoiler, but generally, the idea for the Fate mechanic came after I wrote a large part of the narrative for the campaign's main story. Throughout their travels and adventures in the Starlight Chronicles setting, the players will acquire various Tarot cards that will give them signs and also some mysterious insight as to what they could expect in their future adventures.
There are segments for the GM to read in order to further understand what kind of implications these tarot cards add to the campaign's story.
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Fate is one of my favorite creations so far when it comes to Starlight Arcana and everything that will be in it. I really cannot wait to get some of this content in the hands of testers and a few months later in the hands of backers. I really want to make sure the mechanic works in a fast and easy manner so that players will feel like coming back to it again and again because of the narrative connection it offers for everyone in your games.
I really want to explain more about Fate but this is all I can share for now. For the full rules and mechanics on how Fate works, you will have to wait a little bit longer until the huge Starlight Arcana tome is in your hands!
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Bonus Content - An Astral Cat!
Link to Download ZIP File
The awesome folks over at Critical Crafting, who I have had the chance to collaborate with a few times already in the past couple of months, put together a nice little stat block for our beloved Void Cat.
This is not the cat that you will find in the book but something quite similar!
The fine folks of Critical Crafting took the monster for a spin and made an awesome stat block for it so that you can throw it in your own games!
Critical Craftingis a small team of dedicated content creators crafting original 5e content. Each month, get access to 40+ pages of themed content that is filled with all sorts of awesome things for you to use in your games.
Their patrons get access to 700+ pages of content. Almost rivaling the content of Kelfecil's Tales! So imagine how awesome that is! (Nothing better than poking your collaborators in public posts! :D)
Make sure you check them out and tell them we sent you!
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Discord - Spoilers and more!
We also recently revealed the final epic stretch goal at 100k on the Kelfecil's Tales Discord community so if you still haven't joined the party, it is never too late!
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Till the next update...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
13th Stretch Goal + Social Unlocks!
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 12:27:25 AM
Hey dice rollers!
This is going fast. Like, real fast. We did a lot of research before running our first ever Kickstarter campaign (as you may be able to tell from all the information we have shared with you so far) and one of the things we saw was that most projects go extremely slow after the first 48 hours. What is happening with ours is just phenomenal, considering the speed we have been able to keep all the way through.
Thank you so much for everything and I can honestly tell you that not a single day has passed since launch where I did not wake up thinking that my dreams came true with being able to make this book a reality. I really hope there will be many more to come, but that is something we'll talk about in another update!
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13th Stretch Goal - More Astral Ships!
We talked extensively about ships and how they work in a previous update so what I can tell you now is that by reaching 85k and unlocking this stretch goal, we will add a few more ships and specifically a few more battlemaps of those ships for you to use in your campaigns. It could be the ship the players are on or even a Eythereal Corsairs' ship that is getting close in an effort to board and raid the players' ship. Who knows!
What we know is that you'll have plenty of ship material to play with as Ori, our awesome cartographer, will be providing all the ships you need and more!
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Next up...
Quite a few people have asked for this so once we hit 90k, the time will finally arrive when we will explain more about the Tarot mechanics and the game design thoughts and ideas that went into it. At this rate, it's inevitable that I will have to make that huge write-up anyway!
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Social Stretch Goal Unlocks!
(Link to Social Stretch Goals and Unlocks)
+50 Followers on Instagram - Yarfer's Portrait
(Artwork by Swetha)
Yarfer, the Inventor, is one of the main NPCs that players will get to meet while running the Starlight Arcana campaign!
Yarfer is an old favorite actually that made his first appearance in my first ever published one-shot adventure, Astral Invitation! He also made a return recently in Astral Bidding which is a continuation of the first adventure. The first one is available for free and the second one is a Patreon exclusive.
You can clearly see how much the quality of my work has improved when you compare the two adventures and I am so happy to be able to see it so clearly. I generally always try to improve my content in any way I possibly can by learning and practicing various things every day.
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x10 Astral Haikus - Secret Ancestry Revealed!
Introducing... the Ravenfolk!
(Artwork by Anel)
The Ravenfolk are a fearsome tribe of raven-like creatures that ever since their very beginnings, they have lived by hunting down beasts and other creatures that are bigger and stronger than them. They learned to make use of their intelligence and cunning in order to bring down foes that would seem impossible to bring down, especially for frail creatures like the Ravenfolk.
The Ravenfolk are the main race of the Hunting World, as many call it, and can often be found working as mercenaries or assassins throughout the galaxy.
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I just want to say that reading through your submissions has been really fun and I really hope you keep submitting more as we continue with the project because who knows... there might be another secret social stretch goal ;)
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Bonus Content - An Astral Creature!
Link to Download ZIP File with PDF+Token+Portrait
The amazing folks over at Odd's Gardens created an Astral Creature to celebrate our KS Campaign!
The Wormpool is a creature that fits perfectly in any kind of "Astral Plane" situation, even in our very own Sea of Stars (that functions very differently from your usual necessarily overcomplicated Astral Plane).
Thank you so much Odd's Gardens and make sure you check out their content on Patreon and Instagram because they create some beautiful monsters that are just as fun to look at as they are to throw at your players for some mayhem!
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Till the next update...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
12th Stretch Goal + Lore!
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 09:51:49 PM
Hey star watchers!
Another stretch goal, another update! We are now at 80k and we also unlocked a few Social Stretch goals, so there's plenty to talk about. There are a few things I would like to remind people of though.
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Shipping
As mentioned in a previous update, we have made a deal with a few different fulfillment partners in the EU, UK, US, and Canada to give you Customs Friendly shipping.
We are still receiving a lot of questions about shipping to the EU and if there is any chance it could be lower, especially considering the fact that a few of my collaborators as well as myself are in Poland. Unfortunately, shipping for most projects has become extremely expensive and if anything, I am really happy we were able to bring you the prices that we did because if you compare it to any other TTRPG campaign out there, you will find that in many cases they have even more expensive shipping for way less than 300-page books.
I know that the shipping cost is prohibitive to a lot of people that want the book in the EU and other areas too but this is the best we can do for now. There are a few other things we are considering but we cannot give any promises for the price going down anytime soon.
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12th Stretch Goal - New Planet: Woven World UNLOCKED!
The last stretch goal planet is here; the Woven World is now part of Starlight Arcana!
This planet is a very special one and I am very excited to see that we reached the goal to add it because I had a lot of fun designing it and now I cannot wait to finalize all the writing for it so that it can be added to the final book.
The Woven World is a huge creature of unknown origin and it was able to become this big in size due to its endless hunger. Legend has it that a star saw the devastation being caused by this creature and decided to put a stop to it. In order to stop it though, the star had to sacrifice itself so that with an explosion the creature would be no more. What happened instead was that the creature consumed the star and while exploding, it wove its existence around the dying star thus altering its form forever.
The Woven World now floats in the Sea of Stars as yet another planet that orbits around the two central suns of Ukko and Umi. Few have lived to tell the tale of what exists on the planet or what exactly is going on there but one thing is for sure; should you decide to visit and end up surviving, you will have quite the story to tell afterward.
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Next up...
Ships, Tarot Fate mechanics and Next Project Reveal!
Can't wait to talk about all of these!
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Social Stretch Goal Unlocks!
(Link to Social Stretch Goals and Unlocks)
Since the Facebook post link is a bit buggy and not everyone is seeing it to be able to share it, I have decided to remove it as a Social Stretch Goal and will instead be revealing all 4 of those things gradually over the remaining time that the campaign has left.
x20 Shares on Facebook - Astral Siblings Lore
The Astral Siblings are the three deities of the Starlight Chronicles setting. Za'strasz, the oldest and most powerful. Ukko, the middle sibling and the most ambitious one. Umi the youngest and wisest.
When the Siblings had grown bored of all their discussions about the cosmos around them, they decided to play a game. Eager to show what they can create, Umi and Ukko gathered the dust of the cosmos and created all sorts of beautiful things that suddenly made the vast emptiness of space a lot more lively. All the things one can see when they look at the skies above are the things that Umi and Ukko made. Star constellations, nebulae, black holes, planets, all creations made from the brilliance and playfulness of the two young siblings. From their efforts came the Sea of Stars.
Za'strasz, the eldest of the three, saw what the other two had created and knew he had to showcase the true length of his power. He reached out to the cosmos and gathered everything close to himself. He created valleys, deserts, mountains and seas. He painted on what was an empty canvas with colors that he borrowed from everything his siblings had created. He weaved all of the things that can now be found on every planet.
The Siblings made sure everything connected and existed harmonically with one another by creating Starlight magic. Starlight magic would be the conduit between everything and the primary force that would hold everything together.
All that was left, was to populate the world with various lifeforms. Colorful, unique creatures of all kinds were put on each world so that they may mold it as they saw fit. Umi knew there had to be some balance so, with one final move, she created the Souls Plane, a sort of underworld that would function as the start and end of all creatures' lives. She also made the daemons, keepers of the Souls Plane, that would make sure the balance is kept should any soul ever diverge from the path of life it has been given by fate.
Ukko and Umi placed two suns in the middle of the galaxy and colored them after themselves. With them, they were able to give a day & night cycle to the planets that orbited around the suns.
It was not long before the denizens of various planets learned to use Starlight Magic and even took to the stars, unlocking the secrets of the universe around them, one step at a time. As the Siblings watched everything from afar, they could not help but notice that the creatures, they had allowed to roam the planets they had created, were growing more and more powerful and they had even found ways to extend their life span. They had even learned how to bring back the lost souls of creatures that were in the Souls Plane.
All of this made Za'strasz very anxious as he started to fear what could happen if the creatures grew too strong. He feared that they would eventually start seeking out their creators and he saw a lot of problems coming with that. He felt that something had to be done.
His brother and sister were completely caught by surprise when Za'strasz suddenly started raining hell on some of the planets, in an effort to destroy as much as he could so that he may halt the rapid progress of mortals. Ukko and Umi immediately rushed to defend the world they had created all together and after a long battle that brought huge devastation to the world, Za'strasz was defeated. While more powerful on his own, Za'strasz was no match for the combined powers of his two siblings together.
Za'strasz was still their brother though so Ukko and Umi could not bare to destroy him. Instead, they chained and banished him to the farthest reaches of the cosmos so that he may never return again.
Having disposed of their mad brother, Umi and Ukko began repairing their now broken worlds. They decided that more balance was needed and therefore created the Night and Day cycles, forcing the mortal creatures to survive for less time. They witness that with time, the creatures appreciated their lives much more than before, and together, the two Astral Siblings ruled as Sun God and Moon Goddess.
Meanwhile, Za'strasz was alone and chained in a darkness unlike any other. This, however, is where his real story starts, for this is where the Void would find him and free him from his bonds. Za'strasz is free and a new terror from afar would threaten the world once again.
The Void beckons and the Void corrupts all...
More on the Astral Siblings inside STARLIGHT ARCANA!
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x120 Comments on Kickstarter - x3 Gargantuan Creatures
I honestly wasn't sure if this one would be easy or hard to reach as a social stretch goal but I am just amazed at how fast this went! A lot of those 120 comments are mine as well, but we are not even halfway through the campaign and we already have that many, so I think it's only fair to say that even if the goal was higher, the goal would still be reached anyway.
So we are adding x3 Gargantuan Monsters to Starlight Arcana! More details on that in the book (and maybe in an upcoming update...?)
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Kickstarter Friends
I wanted to bring to your attention Chris Dias's latest Kickstarter project - The 5E Amethyst Collection!
You probably know by now how serious and careful I am with my game design choices and how important I find it to always try and make new, fun, and different things. Being a creator is one thing but being able to create something that people will remember, because of the entertainment value it offers, is a whole other deal.
Chris has tons of experience as a creator with multiple best sellers on DriveThruRPG and other Kickstarter projects that he ran in the past. I had a chance to read some of Chris's content and I can tell you first-hand that no ink was spared when creating the vast amount of content that is in Amethyst.
Here's a FREE Preview in case you want to check it out.
Chris's current Amethyst Kickstarter Project is his way of collecting everything for anyone that is interested in getting it all in one go and exploring a whole world of possibilities and options for your 5E games.
If you are into techno-fantasy and sci-fi-esque stuff then this is one of the best collections out there that you could have to expand your 5E games.
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Till the next update...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
