Sands of Doom is a Fifth Edition campaign for characters level 1 to 11. A series of prophecies has foreseen the rise of an ancient evil who will bring ten cataclysmic plagues upon the land of Al’Kirat. As the first two prophecies come true, war breaks and the characters are forced to fight or face total annihilation. *Shipping and VAT will be collected once we are closer to fulfillment.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Hello everyone! Sorry about being a month late on the update. I have been on crunch time these past three months finalizing the writing on the book. Since I spend basically every waking moment I have just doing the writing, it is very difficult to do anything else :']
I am happy to announce that for the first time throughout the course of the project, I can finally see the end of the writing on the horizon. What a journey it has been. I mentioned how scared I was during the last update to give a date since it is sometimes difficult to predict, but it appears that I was correct. I will indeed be able to finish all the writing in a month's time, so by the end of June (provided life doesn't throw me a curve ball) I should be fully finished up with all of the content. The month of July will be spent proofreading and fixing any problems that arise, as well as sending all of that content over to my editor for layout. So just as I give a chapter the green light, it will be sent directly to my editor, and we will start putting it all together asap. The final deadline for all of the art is end of July, so by then my editor will be able to finalize the look of the book.
I want to get a lot of this content into your hands as soon as i can, so you can have as much time as possible to digest the adventure, analyze the structure, and be able to give feedback and criticism before we make the final printing. So what I am thinkin of doing is sending you guys the final drafts for each of the chapters just as I send them over to my editor. They won't be layed out in a pretty format of course, but it should let you see the content, and potentially the maps as well if I can attach them to the file. Like I said, this I might be able to start doing this mid-way through July. I will also make a few videos explaining each of the chapters and how to run them.
Costs. One thing I really want to do that I feel like you guys would appreciate seeing is a breakdown of the costs of the book. I want to put together a little sheet showing how much I spent on art, layout, music, battlemaps, etc; as well as how much the printing process itself costs. Might be helpful for fellas out there who could be looking to potentially make their own books to see more or less how the cost structure functions, as well as those of you who might just be interested to see where your money went in the production of the book. I know peeps love transparency in these things and I think it will be fun to show all that stuff.
Survey. I think I will be finally sending the Backerkit survey at the end of July. There, you will be able to make any final purchases you may have missed for the kickstarter, including any addon you may want to add before everything is closed down. In this survey, you will also be able to add in your Address where you want the book to be shipped to. Note that completing this survey is REQUIRED for you to receive your book and any other physical reward you selected, as i do not currently have your address, and shipping costs were not included in the original kickstarter run. In this survey, you select the shipping destination and you pay the shipping cost for the products as part of the process. Have no fear though, I will be giving you all ample reminders to complete the survey once it goes out to make sure that everyone has a chance to complete it.
That's basically about it. Just wanted you all to get a small update on how things are going and what to expect going forward. Nothing much else say other than to keep an eye out in a month for information regarding early samples of the content. Thank you all for being so patient and so very kind. I am certain you are going to love the adventure!
Before you leave, i do need your help with a few important questions. If you want to participate in the polls, click the link and answer the questions in there.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmLZKcXfNv_KQqG1MvcqYuZm5fFww4wcF5E-ulO-avBY4elw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Thank you for the participation!
Hello everyone! Its finally time for another update for Sands of Doom. I apologize for being about a week late on this one. Don't really have any excuse or anything, i just got caught up in all the work :(
Let's get started!
I received some comments on the last update regarding people wanting to know the general structure of the campaign, so I figured I would invest a portion of this update breaking down how the adventure is formatted. The campaign is broken down into four parts, or arcs if you will. They are as follows:
The characters start their adventure in the frontier outpost of Kunaten Keep, a fortified settlement placed more than 100 miles deep into the Great Wasteland. The wasteland is an expanse of cursed dunes fraught with danger, bandits, and the sunken ruins of an ancient and powerful civilization.
The characters are here are participate in a grand expedition. An unbelievably large pyramid has been discovered, and if any previous Anubian ruins are anything to go by, this one is bound to be filled with riches, magics, and powerful knowledge. The structure was so large in fact that the once-closed land of Kirat, a land governed by tieflings, opened their gates to mercenaries and scholars of all realms to help delve into this structure.
In this arc, the characters travel to the pyramid and enter it as part of the expedition. Things unravel as the thousands of entombed gnolls, citizens of the old Anubian empire, begin awakening - Half Undead / Half Alive. The gnolls systematically slaughter the mercenaries, adventurers, and Kirati within the pyramid; before they are able to follow the survivors back to Kunaten Keep. The keep is assaulted and shortly falls. Those not killed in the attack are crucified and left for dead in the scorching dunes.
Player characters can either successfully escape the events at the pyramid, or fall and become captured - only to be taken back to the keep after it falls and become crucified along with the rest. How the events play out at this moment signifies who becomes the players 'Fated Ally'. There are three powerful NPCs that the players can travel with throughout the campaign, each with their own quests and motivations. Becoming crucified leads to one, where as escaping and surviving leads to two different outcomes depending on the player's choices - each which leads to a different NPC.
The arc is structured into 3 main segments. A 'prologue' of sorts where the characters chill in Kunaten Keep before the campaign. This serves as a location to gain exposition about the world and have the characters meet. Then the pyramid which is a proper dungeon. And then the last section involves the characters traveling from the outskirts of the pyramid back towards civilization / a safe haven, where they must survive with no supplies against the natural dangers of the dunes.
This arc begins at level 1 and the characters will be level 3 by the end. The arc ends when the characters arrive in the city of Al'Kirat.
The second arc is set exclusively in the city of Al'Kirat and its immediate environs. Al'Kirat is a city founded by and populated almost exclusively by tieflings. The original Kirati saw themselves always as outsiders in the lands they came from, hated for the blood of devils that ran through their veins, vilified and ostracized since the moment they were born. A great migration was born where a large flotilla of these tieflings was created in order to search for a land that would belong to them, where they could settle and flourish. In the harsh and unforgiving deserts of Kirat is where they found their new home, too hot and dangerous to be desired by other species. The city grew in power and prosperity as the ruins of ancient Anubia began being uncovered, which were loaded with magical trinkets and treasure, transforming the struggling settlement into the powerful city it is today.
The players get to explore the city in this arc, while learning of the main plot of Sands of Doom. In the campaign, war is issued upon Al'Kirat as an army of ancient Anubians (half-undead gnolls) begin to march across the desert towards the city. This is discovered throughout the arc while the characters deal with a bit of political intrigue and investigations into mysterious murders happening throughout the city.
By the end of the arc, the players discover the power of the Divine Relics - a collection of artifacts wielded by the High Priests of the Anubian Empire of old. With the guidance of the player's fated ally, as well as the prophecies of a sphinx, and of course contextual information within the story, the party learns that collecting these relics - thereby also depriving the enemy of them - is the key to defeat the incoming marching Anubian army.
There is a fair amount of roleplay opportunities and freedom in this arc, to compensate for the relatively linear and danger-filled nature of the first arc.
This is the 'open world' portion of Sands of Doom. In here, the players will have the freedom to explore the land in search for the Divine Relics, any other source of comparable power, or allies to help them against the Anubian invasion.
There are 6 main locations that the characters can explore. Three of those are balanced for levels 5-6 while the other three for levels 7-8. Only two locations can be completed for each level range. The locations not completed will create consequences or changes that will affect the characters in the fourth arc, usually because the villains succeeded in their objectives on those locations.
In order to travel to most of these places, the characters will have to traverse the Great Wasteland, the large set of dunes on the map of Kirat. Care must be made by the players as they prepare for the journey, using the knowledge they obtained from their journey through it on the first arc. In there they can find settlements, encounters, and several secrets that can aid them in their journey.
Survival. Players do have to worry about food and water, but not by micromanaging pounds of food or gallons of water. Players purchase enough supplies in a settlement to last them 'X' number of days, and until those days run out then players know that they are okay. The survival element is more focused on making sure that nothing happens to those supplies as they travel, to resupply when they have the ability to do so in outposts, and to protect their method of transportation. Most supplies will usually be carried via camels, with other ways obtained depending on player choice. Camels have to be protected and taken care of, because without them the characters have no way to truly carry the amount of water they need to drink for any form of long voyage through the desert. Bandits will seek to steal the character's supplies, wild animals might look to hunt the character's camels, and players will have to spend a fair amount of money to stay fully supplied all throughout their journey.
Locations. There are many places that the characters can explore and discover throughout the land. Here are a few examples of some of the bigger locations found across the wasteland:
-Sunken City of Anan'Thul. A clan consisting of a few hundred gnolls are excavating the ruins of an ancient Anubian city. Characters must let them excavate just enough to reveal the Divine Relic, before they can steal it right from under their snouts. Then they must escape the city before succumbing to their wrath.
-The Four Imprisoned Genies. There are four genies scattered about the map, each imprisoned in their own unique way. Characters can learn of their locations by following clues, speaking with NPCs throughout the map, or simply exploring the world. By freeing them, they can each provide a wish - however each genie has its own personality and their own way of interpreting wishes.
-Plains of Molten Sand. A land filled with perpetual storms rests above underground rivers of magma that feed a powerful volcano nearby. The magma underground sometimes meet large aquifers of water, which result in geysers of scalding steam that erupt from the floor. Further, the storms produce endless thunderstrikes that burn and melt the sand of the region, turning it into glass. Characters have to travel through this hellish land while avoiding lightning storms, stepping over a sharp land of glass, and avoid these deadly geysers, all as they travel in an overwhelming caldera of heat in order to find a hidden keep. Oh, did I mention that when geysers explode, they send shards of glass flying to the air that then fall down in a rain of cutting death?
-Kunaten Keep. The keep was taken by the Anubian armies in the first arc. Characters can wait until the Anubian army begins marching towards Al'Kirat, before they can try to retake the keep. By assaulting Kunaten, the characters can meet old faces they might recognize and bring peace to many of the dead that now roam its halls.
-Roaming Treasury of Sekhmet. Many desert travelers speak of an endless sandstorm that circles the dunes. All who enter it are lost forever. Rumors abound that something miraculous rests in the eye of the storm. Inspired by the fabled Cave of Wonders, the characters can follow these rumors in order to find the storm is actually the remains of an old goddess, within her which lies an endless treasury. The characters will have to fight against bandits and avoid the perils of the treasury if they wish to claim its prize.
-Hidden Grove of Ashae. The Great Wasteland is cursed and many have attempted to find a way to restore the land to its previous green blush. A child dryad has discovered that the curse seeks blood, and by offering it such, plants can once again grow in the desert. Allying herself with perytons who can physically snatch the hearts of those they peck, the dryad has been creating a beautiful green grove amidst the waste, fertilized by buried beating hearts.
This is the last arc of the adventure, as well as the main highlight of Sands of Doom. Lord Ammu's army has arrived at the gates of Al'Kirat. The characters have a few days to explore the city and make any final preparations before the siege commences. Once it does, they will have to protect the battlements, fight across the very streets of the city, and make heroic stands against waves of enemy forces as they seek to wreak havoc upon Al'Kirat.
The siege itself lasts for three days. The first day is hectic and filled with battle, as the armies clash in brutal warfare using everything they got. By the second day, now that the Anubians have claimed a few districts of the city, both forces entrench and replan their strategy. Then by the third day, a last deadly push is made where the characters will have the chance to challenge Lord Ammu one final time and claim victory.
During this arc, the characters will get to experience the fruit of their labors. Not just by exercising the great power they have accumulated by collecting several of the Divine Relics, but by seeing all of the allies they have amassed help them during the encounters. I have created a special balancing system within this arc that allows DMs to add helpful NPCs to the encounters, and tables detailing all of the special allies that the characters could have gotten throughout Sands of Doom, and how to properly add them to the encounters. Then at the very end, the final battle is also influenced by who the player's fated ally is (and whether they are still alive or not). My goal is to make this arc as malleable as possible, and to adapt as many of the player's decisions throughout the adventure as possible.
This arc begins when the Anubian army finally reaches Al'Kirat and runs from level 9 to level 12 (Previously 11 - I decided it made sense to give this arc an extra level up).
Okay! Let's talk now about how the book is doing.
Now that Monster Classes 5 (known as Sands of Doom Monster Classes for the Kickstarter) and the adventure soundtrack is completed, there are only three addons left to finalize.
-I have to make final decisions as to what will be placed on the DM screen.
-I have to get some of the extra subclasses for my original Monster Classes proofread before i can send them to my editor. Then I can put together the 'Extra Monster Classes' addon.
-I have to get several lines of the book recorded for our 'Professional Voice Acting' addon. Much like with the DM screen, I am waiting until the book is done so that I can make the best decision as to what to choose for these addons.
The writing is still going strong as I continue to devote myself full time to the book. Let me break down where we are by levels, to show how much we have done and what we have left. Do note however that sections of many of the chapters are left purposefully unfinished until the end, because there are many sections that interact with other sections of the campaign - such as decisions that can be made that influence other chapters. To minimize rewriting, it is important to leave some sections for the time I know I have all the information finalized to do one single write up of it.
I want to also point out the difference between 'written' and 'designed'. The book is and has been fully designed for a long time, meaning that i know what happens at every stage of the adventure. I know the layout of the dungeons, what is in every room, and how the story progresses. The actual 'writing' process however involves laying it out in the comfortable 'dnd-like' format that you are accustomed to. It is about presenting the information properly, placing it under the correct headers, doing the final balancing for difficulty and treasure, coming up with unique and flavorful names, fixing errors that come up in play test, writing out the 'read out loud' boxes, and overall just going from 'detailed notes' to 'finalized product'.
Level 1. This section is fully written, with the exception of the small prologue since I am still deciding how long to make it. Because it was the first thing I wrote, I do want to go back and give it a good pass-through of this chapter, since I have noticed my writing style has changed over the course of writing the book. It shouldn't take too long though to match it. Otherwise though the entire thing is done.
Level 2. Some rewrites affected me here, so I would say we are about 50 to 60% done here. I am just stuck deciding how deep to make this chapter since the characters can make 1 of 3 different decisions, and I am debating how much content to make for each of the routes. We could be from 50% to 90% completed, depending on whether we decide to make more content.
Level 3. This portion is about 90% or so written. Its basically done. I just have the portions of it that connect to level 4 unfinished for now.
Level 4. I have to rewrite this section. Previously, level 3 and level 4 were their own individual adventures, but I decided it was far better to have a single - but longer adventure that took over the entire city arc. Currently we are at 30% on this one, but I managed to move the content that was previously here to the 'open world' portion of the adventure later on. So not too much work was wasted.
Levels 5-8. As you can imagine, this is by far the biggest section of the book. We are very close to being done here. Its hard to tell exactly how fully completed we are, since additions and cuts are made all the time in this section. Most of the locations are basically 70 to 80% done however, with a few being fully written.
Level 9. This is the first day of the siege.The first day is about 75% written. I just have to finish up all the events that transpire prior to the siege actually starting, including an important council meeting, and other types of preparations.
Level 10 - 11. This section is fully designed but 0% written. So much of this section revolves around what happens within the rest of the book that it was just better to leave it for last.
In addition we have the following chapters of the book:
Introduction. This is where a lot of the lore exposition is found, as well as the 'How to run this book' information is placed. All the lore is fully written, but the other portions are about halfway done since I am waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
Exploring the Wasteland. This portion is fully written. Some segments do experience ocassional rewrites as I perfect it thanks to the playtests. This is where you can find information relating to how to survive in the desert, rules for extreme heat and dehydration, random encounters, that sort of thing. I do have some more work left on the random encounters bit but this section is basically done.
The War. This is a special chapter in the book that basically details what Lord Ammu and his army are doing throughout the events of Sands of Doom. It tells the DM how Lord Ammu behaves, how he changes his strategy as the game goes on, it talks about how the army is managed, and how the Anubians fight the Kirati throughout the land before the siege. This section is only about 10% written.
Appendixes. All of the stat sheets are done, including the monsters and bosses of the book. The new spells players can get access to are completed as well. I still need to finalize the effects of each of the Divine Relics, each of which is an 'artifact' rarity magical item with a lot of abilities. The playtests influence a lot what i put in those effects. I also need to write the lore and description that accompanies the stat sheets for the monsters.
So as you guys have noticed, we have gone past the 'February Estimated Delivery'.
I mentioned this before, but the biggest reason for this really does come down to me wanting to be the sole writer for this project. Many of the 5e books you are probably used to seeing here on Kickstarter are usually done by a team of writers, even if they are as small as two people. Sands of Doom is and has always been a passion project for me, not one made for money or to churn it quickly without love and care. The reality is that it takes a long time for a single writer to...well...write the whole thing. This is not to say that there haven't been mistakes made along the way.
The book is bigger than I initially accounted for. I wouldn't be surprised if instead of the expected 250 pages, we end up with 300+ instead. To be quite frank, there is A LOT of content on the book and I am loathe to cut many of it since I feel so much of it is has its part to play in the adventure. We will have to see what I can do to lower the page count by the end, but overall, I am trying to focus on quality and content first, even if it makes the process take longer.
I have also been forced to do a couple of rewrites, a result of play tests showing me correctable mistakes and re-organization of how the story aught to be presented.
Overall though, I am truly seeking to give you the best book that I can make for you guys, and honest to god I am going as fast as it is humanly possible. My lovely fiance forces me to take one of the weekend days off, but other than that it is basically just book-related stuff from morning till night. If there was a gun to my head and I was forced to give you a time when I think the book will be fully written, I would say in 4 months. That is the best guess that I can currently give you.
I will continue to put in my all on this book for the next couple of months. Thank you so much for your patience. I will make you all proud.
I realize that I have not been particularly good at responding to questions to these updates, and I plan on fixing that. I will take some time throughout today and the next couple of days to answer as many questions as I can. So please if you want to know anything about the adventure or the process, leave me a question and I will help out.
Now let's go through some of the new art we got these past months!
Here's more character art!
Elena has given us a few more bits of location and concept art!
We have two more hand-drawn maps to share!
Elrose is hard at work perfecting the map for the city of Al'Kirat. Certainly one of the hardest jobs. See how far she has come!
After helping me with the art for Monster Classes 5, I wanted to get David in on Sands of Doom as well to help us out here. I am certain you will see a lot more from him in the near future!
The official soundtrack for Sands of Doom is finally complete. There are 18 tracks included with a little bit of everything to properly set the mood for the adventure. We got theme songs for some of the most important characters, battle music for different locations, suspenseful tracks for key moments, and much more. We are even planning on having variations for some of the tracks to have special sound effects, such as hyena cackles, for encounters featuring gnolls.
I highly recommend checking out Travis Savoie. His music has been absolutely on point for the adventure and his library of DND related tracks are always a must-use in my adventures.
His Youtube channel:
And here is his Patron! Support him if you like this music:
https://www.patreon.com/RPGMusicMaker
Now here below is a small sample of the music he made for us for the Sands of Doom soundtrack. Enjoy!
That's gonna be it for this update. Thank you all so much for all the support and for staying excited for the adventure. I know it has been quite long but we are just a few months away from completion.
Feel free to leave me some questions! I will do my best to answer them all throughout the next couple of days.
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great xmas, holidays, and new years! It is time for a Sands of Doom update - though this update will be a tad short.
Unfortunately I do not have much to update you guys on as far as the writing goes this time around. I was hoping to achieve more these two months than I ended up actually doing, but the adderall shortage hit me super hard at the end of November and then the holidays stole the second half of December from me. All in all, I feel like I absolutely lost all of December which is sad cause I was keeping great pace throughout November.
However to catch you guys up on where I am at the moment, I am now in the process of doing the final draft for all the chapters of the book. This is the draft that will be sent over to the editors for proofreading, before you guys will get to see it and play-test it. I am about halfway done I wager, but still a bit too early to give you guys a real ETA just yet. There's a lot that changes throughout the internal playtesting process so its difficult to say for certain, and I have already done a fair amount of changes which of course slow things down a bit.
This book is my baby so I am giving it as much time as possible for it to really shine. I really appreciate you guys being as supportive as you have, and willing to wait for the product to be fully complete. My Youtube channel has tanked horribly since I started full-time writing on the book (cause I am terrible at multi-tasking) but if anything, that just shows how much time I am really devoting to Sands of Doom o.O .
As you guys know, finishing the map for Sands of Doom was one of my biggest stresses. For an adventure, but particularly one that deals a fair bit with traveling, having a good map is extremely important. I can easily envision DMs wanting to print out a large version of the campaign's map in order to track the player's position, or setting the map as the main picture for lobby of the VTT's version of the game so everyone can see where everything is all the time; and as such it was crucial that we invested greatly in making the map the best that it could be.
Elrose took on the job phenomenally and worked hard for over 2 months to bring you guys the current draft of Kirat. In addition to the basic form of the map, Elrose is also working on drafting digital tokens that DMs can drag and drop onto the map for things such as oasis, settlements, and more. We took a lot of inspiration from Elden Ring's map and by a lot of Mike Schley's work.
Elrose will begin work on the map for the great city of Al'Kirat once the final draft of the region map is approved.
You can find Elrose's instagram here! https://www.instagram.com/the_d12rose
We will be working on the map a bit more to add a few things here and there before the final draft of the book is done but for now this is Kirat!
The art is coming along very nicely, all thanks to the extremely talented artists I managed to snag for the project :D We are coming in very close to finishing all the art as well. I think in about 3 more months we should have all the main art done for the book, with any remaining art likely to be commissioned after we begin doing the layout of the book - in a 'we need to fill out this spot here' basis.
I said it before but I will say it again, the benefit of having been delayed on the writing is that it gives me more time to commission more and better art. Art that takes a long time to make.
Elena. Unfortunately Elena was very busy with personal work during most of November and will likely be similarly busy during many parts of January and February, so we will likely only get one or two pieces from her a month. She is currently working on setting a good style for the Tieflings of Kirat and for the architecture of the city. Hopefully we can have more pictures of the city during the next update!
Kim Van Deun. Kim is hard at work making all the characters / NPCs of the adventure, and doing a fantastic job at maintaining a solid dark feel for them too! We have been adding a bit more background to the pieces and even making some of them a bit grander in scope. This makes the characters take a lot more time to make but we think it is worth it!
Dominika. We have two more hand drawn maps!
The worm caves is a bit of a special case. The players fall onto the caves, before they begin filling up with sand. As such, players are supposed to travel through them and escape before they become entombed. The map has 10 different variations, with each of them representing the different stages of the sand filling the caves up. I really like the concept but I am planning on adding a bit more to the map as it feels a bit too basic for me. I think a few more obstacles and some more detail.
Tyndall Doodle. Zachary has been doing a really sick job at the largest dungeon of the campaign, Castle Tenebrous /Castle Obsidian, with his professional shadow work. The dungeon has more than 100 rooms (a bit bigger than Castle Ravenloft) so it takes a long time to make, and so far Zachary has only done the shadow work for the first floor. The 2nd and 3rd floor, ceiling, and basement, are still in draft form as we perfect what is meant to be in each of the rooms; and as such are still a work in progress.
You can find Zachary's patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/TDMaps.
A fairly thin update here for these last two months, but even if there wasn't much to talk about I still think giving you all a little something is worth it. Even if its just a look at the beautiful art we have going. I am hoping to have a lot to talk about the writing next time around.
Hope you all had a fun holiday and see you all soon!