Carillon Order and a few updates
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 05:10:39 PM

Work continues on the book layout and final edits. Skip to the Project Status & Next-Steps for more details.

Celeste at D&D In a Castle!

Join author Celeste Conowitch at D&D In a Castle September 7-11th, 2022. There are just a few seats remaining, so sign up soon for Celeste to be your DM for a weekend of amazing games…in a castle!

Nerd Immersion Venture Maidens Preview Video

Ted at Nerd Immersion did a quick review of the community PDF of the Venture Maidens Campaign Guide. If you haven’t gotten a chance to give it a read you can watch and listen to Ted check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-1W1lXGAvI

Hell’s Bells Update

Several of you have asked about the Hell’s Bell’s adventure and we have news for you. The print and PDF versions will be available at the time of physical delivery, in January 2023. Speaking of bells, read on for an in depth view of the Carillon Order faction.

In depth Preview: Carillon Faction-Based Adventures

Carillon Order

The Carillon Order is a secretive sect of magic-users tasked with protecting the Mortal Realm from the influence of faeriekind. Few creatures survive the training necessary to master the carillons’ arcane powers, so the number of active carillons is always small. Despite their numbers, carillons are in high demand across the Eldrin Empire as ever more fey find new ways to enter the Mortal Realm.

Carillons are trained to use magic bells to combat fey creatures. While a single carillon can hold their own against the most powerful faerie beings, there are simply not enough of them to handle the increasing hostility from the Wildes.

In addition to hunting down fey and faerie relics that cross into the Mortal Realm, the carillons seek to understand more about faeriekind. By studying the fey and tracking their movements, the order hopes to find a way to win the war against the Wildes.

Carillon Order as Campaign Villains

Carillons are the frontline fighters in a war that mortalkind is rapidly losing. Desperation could easily motivate individual carillons or the entire order to abuse their power in the name of restoring peace. The Carillon Order understands how to manipulate and control fey creatures better than anyone, and as campaign villains, they weaponize this knowledge to horrible effect.

Campaigns featuring carillons as the main antagonists are stories about war and how absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Carillon Order Schemes table suggests a few of the faction’s potential villainous objectives.

Carillon Order Schemes

d4 Scheme

1 The Carillon Order has decided to  ecretly create a magical affliction capable of decimating all faeriekind in   one decisive blow. Fey creatures are being captured and detained en masse to   serve as test subjects for this odious research.

2 A group of carillons frustrated with order regulations has decided to take the war against faerie into their own hands.   These rogue carillons start hunting and slaying any creature with fey   ancestry, whether they are dangerous or not.

3 The Carillon Order declares a state of emergency and seizes control of the eldrin government. Tensions grow as   empire resources are funneled to the war effort, and anyone suspected of   consorting with fey is imprisoned.

4 A splinter group of carillons broker an alliance with one of the sovereign courts. These carillons are working as   double agents, siphoning the order’s resources to destroy the empire and the   other sovereign courts from the inside.

Individual carillons are powerful, resourceful, and mobile, making them easy to incorporate into any adventure. Carillons come from all manner of backgrounds and walks of life, so they each have unique personalities and motivations. Because there are so few of them, carillons mostly work alone, which breeds various methods for battling fey creatures. The only thing carillons share is the unshakable tenacity that allowed them to survive their training.

If not dealing with individual carillons in the field, adventurers might interact with the carillon council. Three senior carillons comprise the council, and the seats are filled by an informal election process. Since few carillons survive long enough to be considered senior members, the same candidates usually remain on the council until age or illness renders them unable to fulfill their duties. Members of the council are also forbidden to leave the city of Ashtar while they serve, so they tend to be veterans unable to work in the field or the masters responsible for training prospective carillons. The primary function of the carillon council is communication. Council members oversee the administration of security in Ashtar and mediate directly with the military leaders of the Eldrin Empire. They also comb through reports of fey activity, assess what action needs to be taken, and then assign the appropriate orders to carillons in the field.

The Carillon Order is based in Ashtar, which is situated atop a high plateau to better guard the border between the Mortal Realm and the faerie-ruled Wildes. Atop the highest tier of the city, visitors can find the order’s temple where carillons are trained, and its ruling council resides.

Since carillons travel across the realm dealing with threats, they rarely stay in one place for long, which makes the order’s temple one of the only places carillons are guaranteed to be found. Some of the temple is open to the public, so citizens of the empire can present complaints and issues to the carillons who dwell there, but most of the grounds are kept under lock and key. These private areas hold libraries full of research on the fey, trial rooms to test carillon hopefuls, vaults of confiscated artifacts, and many more secrets to entice curious adventurers.

Carillons can feature in a variety of adventures set in the Planes. The Carillon Order Adventure Hooks table offers some options to inspire adventures connected to the order.

Carillon Order Adventure Hooks

d4 Adventure Hook

1 Someone frames one or more of the adventurers for a fey-related crime, and a carillon is called to investigate.   The party must find evidence to convince the carillon of the accused’s   innocence or be brought for trial before the council.

2 One of the mages who enchants the carillons’ magic bells disappeared somewhere on the road to Ashtar, along   with the latest batch of bells they were about to deliver. While all other   carillons are away on assignment, the council is desperate to hire anyone who   can quickly and quietly retrieve the dangerous items.

3 As the carillons become spread even thinner, the order issues bounties rewarding adventurers who capture or kill   several low- to medium-profile fey.

4 A mysterious set of ruins suddenly appear along the Feywalk Jungle border. Carillon scholars are sent to investigate, but the order needs to hire bodyguards to protect them for a few days until a carillon field agent can relieve them.

Project Status & Next-Steps

The next Kickstarter update will be Sunday, August 7th or sooner.

As you saw we still had a bit of layout magic to perform to get the book in a print ready state and you’ve provided great feedback which we’re incorporating to make this book really sing. Thank you! As a result of your feedback we’re giving final layout a bit more time to make sure everything looks great.

Venture Maidens Campaign Guide, Digital (August 05, 2022) - Completed PDF will be available through Backerkit, which will close at this time, while the book moves to our online store. Though the pre-order store will close, we won't finally lock addresses until we have the books in hand (we'll give a week's notice to get any last address updates at that time).

Venture Maidens Campaign Guide, Print (January 2023) - Prints should arrive at this time!

As Always,

Of course, if there are questions, comments, or concerns before the next update, please let us know via comments or direct messaging! Our apologies again for the delays on this project, but know we're working to bring you the highest quality Venture Maidens Campaign Guide possible!

- 2CGaming Team and the Venture Maidens

Venture Maidens Campaign Guide Community PDF is now available!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 08, 2022 at 12:02:34 AM

Venture Maidens PDF - Community Draft Released

Hey everyone - the VentureMaidens Campaign Guide Community PDF is available for download now through backerkit: https://venture-maidens.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards.

It looks glorious! Thank you so much to everyone for all the patience with this project. We are currently stepping through our proofreading passes on the project. If you find anything you think may be a mistake, please let us know through the community errata form here: https://forms.gle/J1TqdorqLbMkVfQw5, or email us a note at [email protected]. Errata submissions will remain open through June 30th, at which point we'll close the form and incorporate corrections into the final digital product!

Project Status & Next-Steps

The next Kickstarter update will be Thursday, July 7th or sooner.

With the community draft in hand, we're just about a month from the final PDF release, at which point the files will go to the printer! Schedules below are our best current estimates, though we'll try to get things passed along sooner!

Venture Maidens Campaign Guide, Digital (July 22, 2022) - Completed PDF will be available through Backerkit, which will close at this time, while the book moves to our online store. Though the pre-order store will close, we won't finally lock addresses until we have the books in -hand (we'll give a week's notice to get any last address updates at that time).

Venture Maidens Campaign Guide, Print (January 2023) - Prints should arrive at this time! 

As Always,

Of course, if there are questions, comments, or concerns before the next update, please let us know via comments or direct messaging! Our apologies again for the delays on this project, but know we're working to bring you the highest quality Venture Maidens Campaign Guide possible!

- 2CGaming Team and the Venture Maidens

May Updates and Art Previews
almost 2 years ago – Tue, May 17, 2022 at 04:31:31 AM

Work continues as many chapters have been fully edited and reviewed and are ready for layout! Delays have pushed the community PDF one month to June, however the final PDF is still expected in July and the print products are still scheduled for January '23!

Previews

Here are a few pieces of art and some content to tide you over. 

Art and Content Preview: Slithering Court

Slithering Court

The Slithering Court draws power from fear and is associated with decay, darkness, and vermin. Citizens of this court revel in the grotesque, championing the ugly things the world pretends not to see. These fey weaponize the fear within other creatures and openly use it to further their agenda.

Lands held by the Slithering Court transform into claustrophobic cavern systems and desolate wastelands dotted with labyrinthian ruins. Perpetual shadows cloak disturbing scenes and creatures waiting to terrify any who dare visit. Adventurers intent on traveling through this demesne must brave apocalyptic cityscapes and crawl through slime-slick sewers, all while weathering the locals’ gleeful attempts to shock and horrify.

The members of the Slithering Court typically manifest features common to the grotesque things they adore like vermin, slime, and mold. Members of this court embrace ugliness and fearlessly use it for their benefit, which is an attractive prospect for widely hated or misunderstood monsters. Creatures like ettercaps, goblins, mimics, trolls, wererats, and oozes of all kinds are right at home in the Slithering Court.

The Slithering Court sees no reason to war against mortalkind when they are so easily controlled. Members of the Slithering Court do not fear urban environments as other fey do, which has allowed them to infiltrate every corner of the Mortal Realm. Branches of the Slithering Court maintain a presence in every major settlement of the Eldrin Empire, building connections to the Mortal Realm through bribery and fear. Their mounting success means members of the court tend toward cruelty and arrogance, but they are undoubtedly the most fearless and resourceful of all the courts.

Slithering Court View of Other Courts

The Slithering Court generally views the other courts as archaic, too stuck in their ways to have real vision. The other courts tend to view the Slithering Court with fear and loathing, though they would never admit it.

Blossom Court. “Have you ever been scared by a daisy? Us neither.”

Court of the Winds. “Let the children play while the adults are away.”

Forest Court. “We liked them better when they were just a bunch of beasts ready for a good throat ripping.”

Heavenly Court. “Could be something if they were willing to dirty their soft little hands.”

Sleeping Court. “Who cares?”

Withered Court. “Scary when they want to be, in the rare moments they quit moping.”

Next Steps

The next Kickstarter update will be June 15, 2022 or sooner.

As always, let us know if there are any questions or concerns about any of the content above; thanks for your patience as we work through this book and make it the very best we can, for your enjoyment!

– The 2CGaming team & the Maidens

The sound of magic
about 2 years ago – Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 12:00:59 AM

Writing and Delivery

The very last bit of writing on the last outstanding chapter was recently finished! So that means all content is with editing or has been edited and is now getting a revision pass! 🥳Revisions are going to go really quickly, so we're estimating the book will be with layout as early as end of next week!

The community PDF is still planned for May. The final PDF is expected to arrive in July and the print products still in January '23. 

The sound of Bardic Magic

Bard: College of Bells

Bards of the College of Bells obsessively study musical theory to find new ways to harness the sonic phenomena of the universe. These bards keep their audiences captivated with magical compositions that manipulate emotion, de-escalating worry or ramping up anxiety as suits their purposes.

Bards from this college are often regarded as gloomy and cerebral compared to the rest of their bardic peers. Even the college name is a somber reference to the tolling bells that mark moments of transition, signaling the passing hours and fleeting moments of life.

Bard Level | Feature

3rd | Enchanted Instrument, Baleful Chord

6th | Reverberating Dirge

14th| Harbinger’s Requiem

Enchanted Instrument

As part of your training, you have bound one instrument to your magical power. This instrument can be any of your choosing and it can serve as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells. If a creature other than you attempts to play this instrument, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 2d4 psychic damage.

The instrument allows you to cast certain spells that you gain at the bard levels noted here. You can use an action to play the instrument to cast one of its spells without expending a spell slot or any material components. Once the instrument has been used to cast a spell, it can’t be used to cast that spell again until the next dawn. Once the instrument has cast a number of spells equal to your proficiency bonus, it cannot cast anymore spells until the following dawn. The spells use your spellcasting ability and spell save DC.

You can catch the rest of the class in the community PDF when it comes out.

School of Sound Spells

This section presents a sampling of spells developed through the manipulation of sound. These spells are available to the College of Bells bard subclass, as well as other spellcasting classes with the DM’s consent.

  Battle Cry  

2nd-level sound

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

Range: self (30-foot radius)

Components: V

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You let loose a rallying cry that boils the blood of creatures you choose that can hear you within range. For the duration, each affected creature has advantage on their next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw.

  Bestial Roar  

1st-level sound

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: self (20-foot radius)

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

You unleash a powerful roar. Creatures of your choice that can hear you within range must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn. You have advantage on the next attack roll you make against a creature frightened by this spell.

Next Steps

The next Kickstarter update will be Sunday, May 15, 2022 or sooner.

As always, let us know if there are any questions or concerns about any of the content above; thanks for your patience as we work through this book and make it the very best we can, for your enjoyment!

– The 2CGaming team & the Maidens

Belated Update - Schedule & Completion Status
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 07, 2022 at 03:29:05 AM

A little late, but nearly there...

Quick update, apologies for the delays getting this out the door - we've done a bit of re-organization of the Venture Maidens Campaign Guide to help with organization and better future proof the product against the latest Season's updates. We are currently tracking for the following:

Community PDF: May, 2022 - this will be the first complete, fully-formatted, copy edited, version of the Venture Maidens Campaign Guide, delivered through Backerkit. When we release this, we'll open up an errata feedback form for anything the community finds in the document while we simultaneously give it an internal final pass proofread. The PDF will be here for about a month, culminating in...

Final PDF: June, 2022 - it's ready to go! We'll deliver the PDF at this time and close Backerkit for pre-orders moving the PDF to other channels online (currently TBD).

Prints, Boxes & Other non-Book Goodies: January 2023 - While we *may* have this in December, it's most likely we'll be getting these to everyone in early January 2023. This will include the rest of everything, delivered both nationally & internationally.

With those dates in mind, here's the current project status:

Next Steps

The next Kickstarter update will be Sunday, April 17, 2022 or sooner.

As always, let us know if there are any questions or concerns about any of the items above; thank you for your continued support! We are very excited with how the book is shaping up and so sorry for the delays!

– The 2CGaming team & the Maidens