Jewel of the Indigo Isles for Pathfinder Pre-Release Out Now!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 04:35:56 AM

What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been

After what seems like thousands of hours of writing, editing, testing, proofreading, design, and more, the Jewel of the Indigo Isles for Pathfinder has been released to backers! 

You should have received an email telling you that the book was released via PDF, but if you didn't, you can log in to your Backer account to download the PDF today. You can also access your account here if you are having issues with the link above: https://www.backerkit.com/are_you_a_backer.

Multiple files were released to Backers this morning, please note what's included in this release (all are PDF only):

•  Jewel of the Indigo Isles PF2 Pre-Release v1 -- This is the pre-release version of the Jewel of the Indigo Isles adventure. It contains the entirety of the first adventure (levels 1-4). This product is not yet complete and missing the second and third adventures (levels 4-11), but will be updated over time and has enough information for GMs to run the first adventure. As the next two adventures are completed, this PDF will be updated and provided to you automatically. The next two adventures should be completed and released well before anyone can finish running the first adventure.
•  Indigo Isles Character Guide PF2 Pre-Release v1 -- This is the pre-release version of the Indigo Isles Character Guide. It is intended for players to use when building characters to run for the Jewel of the Indigo Isles campaign or any other Pathfinder campaign. This product is not yet complete and missing some sections, but will be updated over time and has enough information for players to use right away to build and run a character native to the Indigo Isles.
•  Jewel of the Indigo Isles Player's Guide PF2 v1 -- This is a free player's guide and should be final. This free guide is full of build advice for your character and a treasure trove of information that residents know about the city of Rumplank. Anyone can download and use this guide, so feel free to distribute it to your players.
•  Jewel of the Indigo Isles Interactive Maps Pre-Release v1 -- This is the pre-release version of the Jewel of the Indigo Isles Interactive Maps. It contains the entirety of the first adventure (levels 1-4). This product is not yet complete and missing the second and third adventures (levels 4-11), but will be updated over time and has enough information for GMs to run the first adventure. You can use this product to view all the maps from the first adventure with all map information intact, with or without tags, with or without grids, with or without tags and grids,

As of now, only the Pathfinder version has been released to Backers. We will be working on the 5E version as well (as it's complete) and expect to release the same files for 5E backers in the near future. 

Since these are pre-release versions, if you find something that should be adjusted within these files, please let us know on the Roll for Combat Discord on the Indigo Isles channel.

We will be continuing to edit and update these files until the entire adventure is complete. This initial push was the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of the project. We will continue to keep everyone updated on the progress and look forward to seeing the 5E version and the Pathfinder pre-release version 2 shortly.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons Pathfinder Shipments Near Complete

We have been busy shipping books to those who ordered the Battlezoo Bestiary and/or the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for Pathfinder. Nearly all books should have been shipped by now. If you haven't gotten a notice that your books shipped, please let us know, and we'll look into that right away.

The New Battlezoo.com Is Now Open & Eldamon Pre-Orders

We also updated our online store! You can view the new and improved battlezoo.com, where you can order all of our products and now pre-order the products from our last Kickstarter for those who missed out. Here you can pre-order:

•  Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange & Unusual Hardcover, PDF, and Foundry module 
•  Battlezoo Eldamon Hardcover, PDF, and Foundry module 
•  Year of Monsters Hardcover and PDF 

We will continue to add other items from the Kickstarter over time, but those are available for pre-order today. Pre-ordering will automatically provide you with the pre-release PDFs and playtest materials as they are released, including the upcoming Eldamon Pre-Release Befriending Guide with full rules to allow you to find and befriend in your TTRPG games right away!

 More to Come...

The Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons book for 5E is on the ship and should be in port within the month. We will then fulfill all orders that we can like we did for the Pathfinder versions. As for the Jewel of the Indigo Isles hardcover book, we will continue to update and provide updates to all backers with the PDFs versions. We are planning on printing all the Jewel of the Indigo Isles hardcover books at once, so the final shipments can be sent out to everyone at the same time. And, of course, the VTT modules are also being worked on as well. Stay tuned for more updates shortly.

Dragons for PF2 Shipping, Jewel Preview, Kickstarter Ends Tomorrow
over 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 25, 2022 at 08:11:42 PM

 Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for Pathfinder Shipping Now!

As we mentioned earlier in the week, the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for Pathfinder hardcover book has begun shipping to everyone. For those who pre-ordered multiple items, such as the Battlezoo Bestiary, stickers, dice case, pins, or other items, those will be included in your shipment as well. We appreciate your patience in getting these books.

As for the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for 5th Edition hardcover book, we expect that to arrive in October, and we will ship them as soon as they arrive.

And for those of you who also ordered Jewel of the Indigo Isles hardcover, you can write us via direct message on Kickstarter, and we can work with you on setting up split shipping, where you will get the above items sent right away and the Jewel book once it arrives. Just write us via Kickstarter to work this out!

 Jewel of the Indigo Isles Preview

As we have been mentioning for quite some time, we were waiting on some maps to be completed for the adventure. We have received those maps and are in the process of running through the final proofreading of the first adventure, Search for the Missing Map, by Patrick Renie. And just to help put people's minds at ease, here is a quick preview of the intro to the adventure. So very light spoilers ahead! :)

I realize that this has been a long wait for many people, but I promise you it will be worth it in the end. The maps are of the highest quality I have ever seen in any adventure ever produced (and I'm not just saying that, just wait until you see them), we have hundreds upon hundreds of illustrations, and the quality of the adventure itself has been receiving with rave reviews by the initial playtesters. 

In total, we have spent several thousands of hours (if not tens of thousands of hours) working on this adventure to make sure it is one of the best adventurers you have ever seen. All of this time and effort has allowed us to fine-tune the adventure and make it just that much better via playtesting and feedback, and we truly think it will be worth the wait.

We are in the home stretch here and will start to release the adventures as they are completed as PDFs to all backers so that they can begin to read them and even start the adventure right away if they wish. As each adventure is completed, we will release them to the backers, and then finally, the completed book will then be printed and shipped to everyone.

Our Latest Kickstarter Ends This Friday

Just another reminder that our latest Kickstarter ends this Friday. We are well ahead of schedule in producing the content for this Kickstarter, and now that we have Mark Seifter onboard full time, he can assist in providing regular updates and content for everyone who backed both this Kickstarter and our next!

As usual, you can expect the highest quality artwork and writing in all of our books, and we made sure to add some amazing content you simply won't find anywhere else! Where else can you either play a monster PC, train monsters to fight for you, hunt monsters for strange and unusual parts for your weapons and gear, or slowly transform yourself into a monster with a new subclass/archetype? 

Where else will you get the chance to play a Dryad Barbarian?

There should be something in here for everyone, and the Eldamon Battles card game is also coming along as well. And if you back the Kickstarter, you can participate in the playtest of the Eldamon Battles card game as well.

For those who are interested in how this game will work, here is a sneak preview of Eldamon Battles with Mark and Linda!

We truly hope that if you enjoy the books we have released to date that you will back this Kickstarter so that we can continue to create awesome books for all of your 5th Edition and Pathfinder games!

As always, if you have any questions about this Kickstarter or any other of our products, please let us know, and we will be happy to answer them!

Dragons for Pathfinder Shipping Now, Final Week of Newest Battlezoo Kickstarter & Steve Predicts the Future!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 03:33:44 PM

 Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for Pathfinder Shipping Now!

Last Friday, the warehouse received the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons hardcover book, and we will begin shipping those books out to people this week. For those of you who ordered just the Battlezoo Bestiary and Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons, your books will ship. However, for those of you who also ordered the Jewel of the Indigo Isles hardcover as well, all three of those books will need to ship together.

However, if you don't wish to wait and want to have split shipping instead (Dragons and Bestiary ship now, Isles ships later), please contact us directly via direct message, and we can work that out with you.

 Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for 5E Hardcover Update

As for the 5E version of Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons hardcover, the book is being printed and shipped to the warehouse currently. We expect the books to arrive in October, with shipping to proceed immediately after they arrive. We will keep you up-to-date on the books as they travel to the warehouse, but they are on the way!

Jewel of the Indigo Isles Update

The good news is that we were waiting on several maps to be completed for the first two adventures before we could finish the layout of the books. Unfortunately, these maps were of the Isles themselves, including the treasure map, so we couldn't finalize the layout of the first two adventures until those were finalized. 

Last week Blando finished those maps, which means we have all the maps for the first two adventures complete, and Blando is quickly working on finalizing the maps for the third and final adventure. With the maps complete, we can finalize the layout of the first two adventures of the Adventure Path and send out those PDFs to backers very shortly.

Trust me, we can't wait to get this adventure into everyone's hands, expect to see the PDFs in your email shortly!

Our Newest Kickstarter Ends This Friday!

For those of you who enjoyed the Battlezoo Bestiary and the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons books, I truly think you will enjoy what we are releasing in our newest Kickstarter, which ends this Friday!

Please support the Kickstarter if you like what we are producing so that we can keep making you awesome 5E and Pathfinder products!

Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange and Unusual

Inside the Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange & Unusual, you will find:

•  150 RPG Superstar monsters separated by copper, silver, gold, platinum, and the grand prize winners
•  Aberrant Soul archetype/subclass for characters who are slowly transforming into an aberration!
• New options for the Monster Parts crafting system 
• New rules on how to refine monster parts into custom weapons, armor, shields, skill items, magic items, and more 
•  New imbuing categories, including properties for all eldamon elements that don't currently have them (air, earth, water, and many stretch goal elements) and weird ones like the tentacular "extension" imbued property.
• New character backgrounds
•  New magic items based on the RPG Superstar monsters
• 150+ illustrations

Battlezoo Ancestries: Year of Monsters

Go beyond the ordinary and make your 2023 a year you'll never forget with Battlezoo Ancestries: Year of Monsters. From the mind of Pathfinder 2nd edition co-creator Mark Seifter, who brought you playable dragons and playable dungeons in the previous Battlezoo Ancestries volumes, Year of Monsters delivers a new and unusual monster ancestry each month for a full year, for 12 in total, plus a compilation book at the end with additional bonus content that you can get in touch and help decide!

Talk with Stephen & Mark All Week Long!

During the last week of the Kickstarter, we are doing a big push and will be available to answer questions and discuss the latest TTRPG news and info. This week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, make sure to check out the Roll For Combat YouTube channel, as we'll be live those days at 2:00 pm EDT. We are also appearing on the Knights of Last Call channel on Thursday, at 7:00 pm EDT as well, which should be pretty ruckus if last time was an indication.

Today's show should be pretty interesting for those curious about the future of Dungeons & Dragons.

Six months ago, Steve predicted the future of D&D and accurately predicted just about everything announced concerning One D&D by Wizards of the Coast with 100% accuracy. Today at 2 pm EDT, Stephen Glicker, Mark Seifter, and Nonat1s will continue their 100% accurate predictions on the future of D&D, what to expect from One D&D, and will answer your questions live!

Updated Dragon 5E PDF, Jewel of the Indigo Isles Updates, Battlezoo Previews
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 07:59:28 AM

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for 5E PDF, Updated to Version 4 

Today we updated the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for 5E PDF to version 4 (the Pathfinder version remains the same). Everyone should download this version from their account as it's the most up-to-date version and fixed a few vital items from the prior versions. This is the same version that is being printed, so it's the most accurate version of the book. As always, you should have received an email telling you that the book was released via PDF, but if you didn't, you can log in to your Backer account to download the PDF today. You can also access your account here if you are having issues with the link above: https://www.backerkit.com/are_you_a_backer. We will also be updating the VTT to reflect these changes as well.

 Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for Pathfinder Hardcover Update

The books should be arriving in our warehouse within the next two weeks. As soon as they arrive, we will begin the fulfillment of these books to backers. The 5E will follow right behind this one. For those also waiting for the Jewel of the Indigo Isles hardcovers, we are in the process of setting up split shipments to allow for backers to receive these books as they arrive without having to wait for the Jewel books to be completed. More on this shortly. 

Jewel of the Indigo Isles Update

Currently, the playtesters are reviewing all the files for final updates. We are currently working on the following for release to all Jewel backers:

•  FREE Jewel of the Indigo Isles Player's Guide -- this is a free PDF with all the information a player needs to build a character perfect for the Jewel of the Indigo Isles adventure path! With advice on the most fitting character options, special backgrounds that have links to the adventures, and even a full-length gazetteer for the starting city of Rumplank, the player's guide is full of useful information.
•  Indigo Isles Character Guide -- this book outlines the various character options for players to experience the ancestries, specific familiars, archetype feats, deities, and more from the Indigo Isles! Plus, with Rumplank and Seaview gazetteers, you can learn about two of the largest settlements in the Indigo Isles.
•  Jewel of the Indigo Isles -- This is the main adventure! The characters begin by accepting a royal request to complete a magical map but are soon swept up in a much larger quest that will shape the Indigo Isles forever. We plan to start releasing this book in chapters to backers, starting with the first book, Search for the Missing Map by Patrick Renie. This will allow backers to start to play the adventure right away while we continue to finish up the second and third adventures.

Look for these PDFs to be released shortly to all Jewel backers! 

Join Us on July 26th for the Evolution of the Battlezoo Books!

Last time we gave away a soft leather dice case. This year we're giving away a hard leather dice case to all physical orders during the first 48 hours! Inside the hard leather case is a sponge cushion specially designed to hold your "best" set of dice. Treat your favorite set of dice to the carrying case they deserve! Make sure you put in your order within the first 48 hours from July 26th to July 28th to receive this free hard leather dice case!

Battlezoo Eldamon Preview

Befriend, Train, Battle, and Evolve over 160 monsters with 10+ distinctive elements with Battlezoo Eldamon! Eldamon are ancient creatures slightly out of phase with reality that like to meld into items, creatures, and locations. You can add them seamlessly into any setting, allowing characters to interact with and collect them without disrupting the established adventure or requiring the GM to rebuild or change the encounters.

Control and channel eldamon using two new 5E and Pathfinder classes! Anyone can befriend eldamon and have them fight playful mock duels with each other, but only the eldamon trainer class can phase them into our world in order to use them in combat against deadly threats. Meanwhile, as an elemental avatar, you have a powerful but quiescent eldamon melded into you for a long period of time, gaining the strange abilities eldamon possess for yourself. Battlezoo Eldamon is perfect for monster trainer lovers of all ages. The rules are simple enough to be a great way to introduce children to the game but deep enough to offer a variety of combinations for strategic players.

Inside the Battlezoo Eldamon you will find:

•  Over 160 eldamon, up to 240 (or more) with stretch goals
• 10-20 elements, each with a unique playstyle, special moves, and other abilities for your eldamon to learn
•  The eldamon trainer class, which befriends eldamon and phases them in to fight as described above
•  The elemental avatar class embodies an eldamon and manifests its power as described above
•  Rules, guidelines, and tables allow you to customize the experience of adding eldamon to your game, allowing everything from a completely hands-off approach to tight integration with the story
•  Setting information and variants to easily include eldamon in any setting, whether they are rare or invisible to most people (explaining why no one has mentioned them before) or ubiquitous and well-known by all

 Eldamon Battles Card Game Preview

The Eldamon Battles card game is a fast-paced game of cleverness, skill, and guessing your opponent's decisions, designed to mirror a D&D or Pathfinder eldamon duel but run faster and more strategically in about 5 to 10 minutes.

Eldamon Battles isn't about luck of the draw. If you buy the set, you get every card you need and don't have to chase rares -- you start with all your cards available to play. To win, you need to guess what your opponent is going to do and play your cards in the right order with good timing to eke out an advantage. You can even play solo by facing off against an opponent who shuffles the cards and plays them at random!

Each set gives you eldamon from two different elements, the cards for those elements' abilities, and some universal abilities you can use with any eldamon. You can use the quick play suggested ability sets for a fast 1-on-1 game in the middle of the session, or mix and match to create a versatile team and engage in a longer battle with multiple eldamon!

Eldamon Battles non-collectible card game features

• Season 1 starts in 2023 with Fire & Ice
•  Throughout 2023 five core decks will be released, each deck focusing on two elemental powers and includes multiple eldamon reflecting these elements
•  One deck has enough cards for two players, or you can mix and match decks to create a unique eldamon battles lineup
• A standalone game that can be played in multiple ways and with multiple people
• Play a quick, fun game that can be completed in 5-10 minutes
• Or play using the competitive tournament method to play with multiple eldamon
• Eldamon Battles will also work directly with Battlezoo Eldamon and allow Eldamon Trainer to utilize the deck when utilizing their eldamon powers
• By pledging for the Eldamon Battles card game, you will automatically be invited into the private playtest!
   

Battlezoo Ancestries: Year of Monster Preview

Go beyond the ordinary and make your 2023 a year you'll never forget with Battlezoo Ancestries: Year of Monsters. From the mind of Pathfinder 2nd edition co-creator Mark Seifter, who brought you playable dragons and playable dungeons in the previous Battlezoo Ancestries volumes, Year of Monsters delivers a new and unusual monster ancestry each month for a full year, for 12 in total, plus a compilation book at the end with additional bonus content that you can get in touch and help decide!

Explore an entire Year of Monsters throughout all of 2023:

•  One new ancestry/race will be released each month throughout all of 2023.
• Each ancestry/race is designed to provide a unique playable monster for any 5E or Pathfinder 2e game. 
• At the end of the year, the Battlezoo Ancestries: Year of Monsters Compilation book will be released, containing all the previous entries, plus more!
• Automatically includes the Foundry VTT module for 5E or Pathfinder 2e that automatically updates every month along with the newly released ancestry/race.

Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange and Unusual Preview

Are you ready for the weirdest and most unexpected award-winning monsters around? Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange and Unusual is the long-awaited effort of the 2021 RPG Superstar contest, in which hundreds of monster fans and aspiring designers submitted their most unusual creature ideas to be judged by both professional RPG Designers and the community. Following the competition’s extended hiatus, Paizo licensed Roll For Combat to run this exciting contest, and this is the result! In addition to the monsters, you'll find an exciting expansion to the monster parts system from the original Battlezoo Bestiary and more!

Inside the Battlezoo Bestiary: Strange & Unusual, you will find:

•  150 RPG Superstar monsters separated by copper, silver, gold, platinum, and the grand prize winners
•  Aberrant Soul archetype/subclass for characters who are slowly transforming into an aberration!
• New options for the Monster Parts crafting system 
• New rules on how to refine monster parts into custom weapons, armor, shields, skill items, magic items, and more 
•  New imbuing categories, including properties for all eldamon elements that don't currently have them (air, earth, water, and many stretch goal elements) and weird ones like the tentacular "extension" imbued property.
• New character backgrounds
•  New magic items based on the RPG Superstar monsters
• 150+ illustrations
   

More Books Ship, PDF Updates, Plushies, Minis, Free Dice Case, and More!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 08, 2022 at 06:09:49 AM

Shipping Has Begun for Battlezoo Bestiary 5E!

Battlezoo Bestiary for 5E — The books are starting to arrive in a steady stream from China and we just received our Battlezoo Besitary 5E books this week. For those who have ordered (only) the Bestiary for 5E (both standard and special editions), we will start shipping those shortly. If you have other books in your order, we will be waiting for the additional books to arrive in order to put your books into a single shipment. However, if you really want your book now and want to split your shipment into two shipments, please contact us directly and we'll work with you on splitting your shipping into multiple orders.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons for 5E PDF, Updated to Version 3 

Today we updated the PDF to version 3, everyone should download this version from their account as it's the most up-to-date version and fixed a few vital items from the prior versions. This is the same version that is being printed so it's the most accurate version of the book. As always, you should have received an email telling you that the book was released via PDF, but if you didn't, you can log in to your Backer account to download the PDF today. You can also access your account here if you are having issues with the link above: https://www.backerkit.com/are_you_a_backer.

Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons 5E Foundry VTT Module Released

A few weeks ago we completed the Foundry VTT module for Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons 5E and keys were sent to everyone who pre-ordered it. As of now, Foundry modules for both the Battlezoo Bestiary and Dragons have been released for 5E and Pathfinder. We are still working on the other modules as they are more difficult to implement, but if you wish to change an order from Roll20 to Foundry VTT, please contact us and we will switch over your order (as they are both the same price).

Jewel of the Indigo Isles Update

The good news, this will probably be the largest, most comprehensive, most detailed adventure path you have ever seen. For comparison, an "average" word count for a Pathfinder Adventure Path ranging from Levels 1-11 is somewhere around 95,000 words. Jewel of the Indigo Isles is clocking in at around 215,000 words?!? And that does NOT include the monster stat blocks, the new ancestries, the backgrounds, new magic items, details on The Balance, and so many other items.

Altogether, this adventure is looking to be over 320,000 words in length with additional supporting materials... we might have overdone it a bit.

The bad news is that we are still working on it as this thing is a monstrous beast. It is close to being done, but because of the sheer size and complexity of this adventure, we want to make sure everything is done right. But we are continuing to work on this and will probably release this in stages as it's complete at this point so that people can start to plan and play this fantastic adventure.

In the meantime, here is another amazing map from Blando, the isle of Goldcrop where you begin your adventure.

Our Next Kickstarter Launches on July 26th!

In just a few weeks our next Kickstarter is launching, and this one is going to be a monster! The good news is that we learned a lot from our first one, and added Mark Seifter to the staff full-time to ensure that we get everything we propose out on time. A few updates to this Kickstarter since our last announcement. 

The Free Giveaway, Protect Your "Special" Dice (You Know Which Those Are) 

Last time we gave away a soft leather dice case. This year we're giving away a hard leather dice case to all physical orders during the first 48 hours! Inside the hard leather case is a sponge cushion specially designed to hold your "best" set of dice. Treat your favorite set of dice to the carrying case they deserve! Make sure you put in your order within the first 48 hours from July 26th to July 28th to receive this free hard leather dice case!

 Did Someone Say Eldamon Plushies?

Sure we're offering 19 books, dice, minis, and other surprises, but wouldn't it be cool if you could play with a "life-sized" eldamon plushie at the game table while you summon/collect various eldamon during play? Well, we got you covered! Several tiers will offer multiple 8" plushies as part of your order and these plushies are of the highest quality... many Kickstaters have offered plushies of this quality as just the Kickstarter itself. For us, this is simply one of the many items you will receive as part of your order! 

But wait, there's more!

Everyone Loves Minis!

We said this was a huge Kickstarter, and we weren't kidding! At the "plushie tiers," you will also receive 10 Battle Form Eldamon resin minis. These minis can be used in both your 5E or Pathfinder games (as ANYONE can befriend an Eldamon and summon their battle form) or the Eldamon Battles card game. 

But wait, there's more!

Embossed Hard Leather 100-Page Eldadex Notebooks!

Did we mention this was going to be a massive Kickstarter? In addition to the books, the plushies, the minis, and the dice, we are also offering embossed hard leather 100-page Eldadex books as well! Use these books to record your Eldamon findings or just as regular notebooks, but they are sure to impress!

Believe it or not, there are yet more surprises coming... In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the various books and offerings for your Pathfinder and 5E games, check out the interviews below: