Torrents of the Spellhoarder and Crown of the Oathbreaker

Monsters in Torrents of The Spellhoarder
over 1 year ago – Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 12:04:36 AM

Hello Brilliant Minds!

We want to show you more about the bizarre and memorable monsters that populate Xantharos and the surrounding seas. Here are a few with amazing illustrations that really capture the wonders and horrors that these monsters bring to your table:

The Anglerwyrm is an aquatic draconic predator living in the deepest part of the ocean. It is feared by fishermen and sailors alike, although it is rarely seen. It is huge and is known to hunt for sperm whales that dive deep enough into the ocean. As the old merfolk saying goes: “If you see a strange yellow light in the deep dark… like, don’t go checking it out, mate.”

Sea Giants are not afraid of anglerwyrms, or much of anything to be frank. Their underwater lifestyle allowed them to grow larger than any of their land-roaming cousins but restricted their reign to the water. They love to hunt in packs, loot and collect trophies, and kill anything in their way - much like your average adventurer. Only worse.

Finally, here is the most metal monster: the Death Jelly, with the remnants of its latest meal still tangled in its tentacles. As the name suggests, it’s not something you wanna mess with. Without spoiling anything, there are a few more fearsome monsters you could come across during your adventures in Xantharos, with a legendary poison that is said to be the deadliest in the world. You should be fine though. Just don’t let it touch you… or at least use a stick if you want to poke it so badly.

We hope you like the monsters we prepared for today. Stay tuned, because further updates are coming soon with new monsters that have been unlocked through our stretch goals. If you have any suggestions for monsters or monstrous abilities, or you’d just like to hang out with some other members of the Elderbrain collective, please join our Discord server!

Team Elderbrain

Stretch Goal Magic Items
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 07:20:52 AM

Hello Fellow Brainiacs!

After deciding to reevaluate our stretch goals, we immediately shifted gears, and over the past couple days of working with our wonderful illustrators, we can already present the illustrations for the unlocked items in Torrents of the Spellhoarder and the new illustrations for Crown of the Oathbreaker.

By donning the cape of the barracuda, you can swim at amazing speed and breathe underwater. Its hood can also employ a bite attack delivered at savage speeds.
 

The Trident of the Shark Lord is perfect for underwater fights, or for catching some sea monsters for dinner. It allows its wielder to grab opponents with reach and rip their flesh in a jawlike vice, causing them to bleed out swiftly.  Be careful, those jaws are incredibly sharp!
 

This incredibly fast waterborne vehicle is powered by a water elemental. It has cramped space for four passengers and can hold little cargo. However, it can pierce the highest waves and cover large distances in record times.

 

This magical amulet is carved from wood, depicting a forest of vines that shift about forming paths. It can lead the way to any destination one seeks.
 

This magical mirror is 5 feet high and decorated with silver filigree, showing various musical instruments in the tracery. The mirror reflects the image of any creature that stands before it, however, the background shows the animated illusion of a crowd of spectators of all cultures. The mirror has four command words that create various effects: light, cheers, costume, and stage.
 

This magical rapier is always warm to the touch. It can also expend charges to heat metal or smelt through any unattended metal object.
 

We next turn our attention to the new monsters in the stretch goals, which we hope to illustrate in the coming days. Thank you for all your contributions to the project and wonderful enthusiasm!

Please also join the hivemind on our Discord server to discuss the items in even more detail!

Team Elderbrain

Magic Items in Torrents of the Spellhoarder
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 03:11:38 AM

Dear Inhabitants of the Collective!

We want to show you more about the high-level magic items that can be found on the Isles of Xantharos. While we work on the stretch goal illustrations, here are some details and amazing illustrations that really show the power of animated items of high magic from the Isles:

The Dragon Chariot in this epic illustration has a gilded metallic body, wings on its sides, and a terrifying horned blue dragon-head that shoots lightning. Its pair of studded wheels are equipped with razor-sharp scythe blades on each axle. These alone would make the dragon chariot dangerous, but this vehicle requires no mounts, instead, it has an artificial dragon heart beating inside it that drives the cart faster than any horse could. The dragon chariot’s horns can impale enemies, and it can even use a breath weapon. There are dragon chariots with different elemental breaths, depending on the type of artificial dragon hearts inside them. Chariot races featuring several Dragon Chariots are a stunning but deadly spectacle in the Seat of Scales.

The Flamedrake is a legendary artifact that appears in sailor’s tales from the Calhay Sea. It rows itself faster than any humanoid crew ever could, splitting the sea with its flame-colored armored hull. Its sails are dragon wings that are fabled to be able to lift it above the waves. The ship has underwater vice-like claws that can grab onto other ships, creatures, or rocks, and it has a fire-breathing head that puts fear into the heart of anyone who sees it. The dangers of the sea could never harm the Flamedrake - or so they say.

Silverfrost is an intelligent short spear with the soul of a silver dragon inside it. Embued with long-range telekinetic energies, the item is a representative of the Scaled Council, and if the characters work with the council, they are obligated to take the spear with them. Silverfrost has a paralyzingly cold freezing tip that glows dark blue, forged from the heart of a living iceberg.

We hope you like the magic items we prepared for today. Stay tuned, because we have much more content to show you, even the stretch goal items we have been working on over the weekend. If you have any suggestions for items, or you’d just like to hang out with some other like-minded hive-dwellers, please join our Discord server!

Team Elderbrain

An absolutely Chaotic Good move...
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 07:44:35 PM

Hello, Wonderful Intellects!

Thanks to your support and contributions, the campaign has reached its first major milestone: $100k in pledges and almost 1000 backers! Our plans for stretch goals were overly optimistic, world domination must wait. 

We have decided to create a more realistic stretch goal structure despite the rise in costs. This way we can include as much as possible in all reward tiers according to our original plan. We simply don't want you to miss out on all the goodies we had planned initially. Let's make Torrents as epic as possible!

Wait, what? This also means that we have already unlocked four stretch goals! 

If you pledge the Deluxe Box tiers for either TOTS or COTO, or the Accessory Boxes add-ons, you'll find the new cards in the boxes.

It's the best time to upgrade your pledge to receive the new item and monster cards, printed character sheets, and poster maps! With your help, we can increase the chance that we unlock our remaining stretch goals which have also been decreased! If you don’t want to upgrade but still want to have the shiny collector’s cards or the maps, you can add the booster card decks or accessory boxes to your pledge as add-ons.

Unfortunately, we are unable to modify live reward tiers and that is why these show the 100k steps for the stretch goals.

Thank you for the amazing support, and stay tuned, because the next updates will reveal more about new items and monsters in Torrents of the Spellhoarder with previews of their cool illustrations. 

Please also join the hivemind on our Discord server to discuss the adventure in even more detail!

Team Elderbrain

New add-ons: Accessory Boxes
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 06:58:03 AM

Dear Old and New brains!

Based on your feedback and to save you some loot, we have decided to add two new add-ons that bundle the physical accessories and other add-ons for the adventures: the Accessory Boxes.

These boxes are the right choices for those who just want to have all the accessories for each adventure without splurging on the Deluxe Hardcovers and additional digital products. 

The add-ons are called:

• Torrents of the Spellhoarder Accessories ($109)

• Crown of the Spellhoarder Accessories ($119)

Each Accessory Box contains every physical accessory for the respective adventure.  The boxes can be added to any physical pledge during the campaign or to digital pledges after the campaign. 

The boxes include:  

• Dice Sets + Bags: Showing up to the session with these will invoke some serious dice-envy!
• DM Screens: With thematic art on the front and useful tables on the back, these DM screens will be in high demand. At any moment, the DM can look up the weather and naval combat rules, or how the mystical Orbs of Magic work for Torrents, or check the rules of the Midnight Curse or mass combat without even opening CotO during play.
• Sandbox Poster Maps: The huge physical copy of the Calhay Sea and the Seat of Scales for Torrents or the sandbox maps of Aglarion, Onadbyr, and the Bleak Mire, ripe with potential for sea exploration.
• Cover Posters and Art Prints: Decorate your walls with epic art from Torrents and CotO - the cover poster and 3 additional art prints! We plan to make the final choices for art prints based on backer votes when all designs are final.
• Booster Card Decks: Hand out the item, spell, feat, fraction, and NPC cards to your players. Running sessions and organizing player options has never been easier!
• Magnetic Bookmarks: The books will have 3 built-in bookmarks, but why not strengthen your game with another one?
• Sticker Sheets: Kick-ass retro stickers inspired by Torrents and CotO on an A4 sticker sheet. You can leave your mark anywhere with these beauties.
  

If you pledge the Torrents Hardcover or Hardcover Series reward tiers, you can choose either or both boxes as add-ons by modifying and changing your pledge level and selected add-ons.

Striving to best serve the Hive Mind!

Team Elderbrain