A 5th Edition Stone Age adventure. Level 1-20 campaign, setting, and player options. Play D&D in a dangerous prehistoric world!
Please see our FAQ for important information regarding shipping and taxes/VAT:
FAQ on Shipping and Taxes/VAT
Latest Updates from Our Project:
The Final Countdown! Less than 48 hours to go!
8 months ago
– Mon, Apr 01, 2024 at 06:51:21 AM
Final Hours: The Homestretch of Born from Ice
As the hands of the clock wind down, we find ourselves in the electrifying final hours of our Kickstarter journey. The anticipation is palpable, the excitement is through the roof, and our hearts are full of gratitude for each and every one of you.
Stretch Goal in our Sights
Weekends are typically a slower time for campaigns (we think because people are busy having fun on the weekends, and spend more time during the week while at work thinking about gaming and the other things they would rather be doing), but this past weekend was nothing short of amazing! Nearly $4,000 in pledges poured in!
Throughout the campaign, we've seen a consistent outpouring of support, with daily pledges averaging between $700-$800. This steady momentum has brought us tantalizingly close to our first major stretch goal: unlocking Neanderthals as a playable species, with just $1,500 more needed to get there!
Reminder: Help a Library or School
As we count down these final hours, we want to remind you of the opportunity to not only support Born from Ice but to share the adventure. By choosing the "Donate A Book Set to A Library or School" add-on and increasing your pledge by $60, you enable us to gift a set of books (Core Book, Player’s Guide, and Adventure Path) to a library or school. This initiative, at no additional shipping or fulfillment cost to you, will spread the joy and imagination of Born from Ice to young minds and communities. We will carefully select the institutions to receive your generous donations, ensuring your contributions have the widest and most meaningful impact.
Thank You!
As we enter these final hours of the campaign, we are filled with a sense of overwhelming thankfulness and buoyant optimism. The dream of Born from Ice has been nurtured by your faith and support, growing from a flicker of imagination into a blaze of reality.
Thank you for believing in this project, for joining us on this prehistoric adventure, and for being the backbone of this incredible journey. Let's keep the momentum going strong, push for those last pledges, and cross the finish line together with the roar of success echoing in our wake.
Zander’s Guide to Zombie Hunting is a 5E tome focused on the shambling dead. Perfect for zombie apocalypse settings, the book comes with a wide range of thematic player options, including:
12+ new subclasses
The transformative new Animist class
1 new lineage: The Bitten
20+ apocalyptic magical items
40 thematic spells
All-new graft magic system
Fully illustrated zombie bestiary
Worldbuilding guidance for pre- and post-apocalyptic settings
New Actual Play Video
8 months ago
– Sat, Mar 30, 2024 at 06:28:00 AM
New Actual Play Video: Whispers in the Snow
We're beyond excited to share a special treat — a brand new actual play video! This one-shot adventure follows the story of a young girl who disappears during a fierce blizzard, and the clan members who set out into the merciless cold to find her.
The adventure is packed with challenges that test their limits: a perilous crossing over a frozen river, a confrontation with a starving cave lion, and a tense encounter with a pack of dire wolves. That's a lot for a group of level 3 adventurers to face!
This actual play session is particularly special because it features two brand new players. Join Matt and Arden as they roll the dice for the very first time (with any RPG!), diving headfirst into the rich, immersive experience of Born from Ice.
We're also thrilled to have Scott Fogg, the talented comic author known for works like "Nightcare" and "Phileas Reid Knows We're Not Alone," join the adventure (who unfortunately had some camera issues, so you'll only be hearing him).
We invite you to watch the adventure unfold, share it with friends, and perhaps even draw inspiration for your own Born from Ice sessions. As always, we're incredibly grateful for your support and enthusiasm for this project. It's your passion that fuels these stories and brings the prehistoric world of Born from Ice to life.
Forge your legacy in an immersive world designed for Dungeons & Dragons 5E. Delve into an ancient dwarven kingdom, navigating political intrigue and uncovering long-lost secrets in the Halls of Splendor.
Embark on a quest filled with adventure, danger, and the chance to carve out your own legend.
🔍 What's Included?
Player and GM-Facing Chapters: Dive deep into dwarven lore with surprises at every turn.
Secrets of the Sacred Stone: Start your campaign with a thrilling tier-1 adventure.
Adventure Handouts & Battlemaps: Immerse yourself in epic encounters.
New Content Galore: Explore 4 subclasses, 10 backgrounds, face off against 9 new adversaries, master 10 new feats, and confront corruption with a brand-new 5E sub-system.
Join us as we journey into darkness, where legends are forged and heroes rise. Unleash your inner dwarf and secure your place in history today! ⚒️✨
The Creator's Compendium
8 months ago
– Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 04:47:53 AM
A Project We Love - Ending Soon!
I wanted to send out an update this morning to highlight The Creator's Compendium. I've had a chance to see a preview copy and talk with Chris Spradlin, the designer, and think this is a really amazing project that could also use your support.
Chris is an astrophysicist and storyteller, and so The Creator's Compendium unravels the Universe in a humorous and easy-to-understand way, providing everything you need to create exciting, authentic, and scientifically-accurate worlds (and destroy them!).
If you are interested in bringing science into your games (and since you are checking out Born from Ice, that seems like a good bet!), this is a great system-agnostic resource on creating realistic worlds, all based on the science we know of our universe. I think it is an amazing time to be gaming when two science based RPG books can both be successfully crowdfunding at the same time.
Let's Talk Monsters!
8 months ago
– Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 11:32:49 AM
A Look at the Born from Ice Bestiary
Today, we're talking about the creatures and people that inhabit Born from Ice, which will be included in the Bestiary section of the Core Book.
First, if you want to see some early glimpses, you can find some examples of creatures in our Playtest Adventure. While not all of the mechanics we are looking at are included within that PDF, it does give a taste of what you can expect for some of the monsters and NPCs.
More than Monsters: NPCs
Speaking of NPCs, our bestiary isn't just about creatures. It's also about the people who make up the tribes and clans of this ancient world. To help bring your stories to life, we'll be including NPC stat blocks for various Homo sapiensand other Homo species (such as the Neanderthals). These could include entries such as warriors, clan members, scouts, children, and elders.
Megafauna: Giants of the Ancient World
Let's talk about megafauna. These are the large or giant animals that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. Think of mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and giant sloths—real beasts that spark imagination and inspire both awe and fear. A major focus of our Bestiary is on including unique versions of these creatures.
A Glimpse Into the Work
Just a few of the lines from our creature spreadsheet (work in progress)
Our dedication to bringing this prehistoric world to life has led us to compile a massive spreadsheet of 357 line items. This working document includes creature types along with their locations by continent and habitat—caves, coastal areas, mountains, and more. Not listed yet on the spreadsheet, but soon to be added, are historical timelines, providing context on when these creatures thrived and their journey through the ages.
Not all of these items will make it into the final book. Many of the line items are for similar creature types. We plan on the final list containing around 60-70 creatures, and are currently exploring the best ways to get there.
For example, can one mammoth stat block represent all mammoths, with optional sidebar features that allow customization? Or do we need 2-3 representative mammoths to cover the variety that existed?
Additionally, there is a large variety in a number of more mundane animals as well, and so figuring out how best to cover the worldwide variety is a challenge. How many types of snakes do we need to represent, or types of birds?
We also want there to be challenges for all tiers of play, so the Bestiary will include variations based on targeted CR for creatures that make sense to have this level of variety.
Our aim is to preserve the depth and authenticity of the setting, while keeping the number of creatures to a manageable range, and to provide the most interesting-to-play creature stat blocks possible.
Keeping Combat Interesting
To ensure combat in Born from Ice remains dynamic and engaging, we're including several features:
The Bloodied condition, which triggers unique effects when a creature is reduced to half its hit points, adding a tactical layer to encounters. For especially powerful creatures, this essentially turns a battle into a Phase 1 and Phase 2 encounter, where new abilities or threats can swing the tide against the players.
Lair actions, allowing creatures to use their environment to unleash devastating effects.
Not directly in the Bestiary, but within the Core Book there will be a section on Environmental Actions, enabling players to gain unique abilities outside of their standard character build within specific situations or environments. This can add new and dynamic elements to a battle.
Your Voice Matters
As we continue to refine and expand our bestiary, we want to hear from you. What creatures or features are you most excited to see in Born from Ice? Are there aspects of prehistoric life or combat that you feel we should explore further? Your feedback is crucial in shaping this world to be as engaging and authentic as possible.
This is a one shot for players and DMs who want getting from A to B to be an exciting part of the story of your D&D campaign. A great one shot to insert into your campaign or play on its own. Circle the wagons and see if you can survive a monstrous warband, or the highwaymen that haunt the highway. Can you protect or plunder the family jewels – with pages of new magical items? Plus, a handful of battlemaps – day, night, grassland, desert and snow. Not bad for just 1GP. That's half the price of a dagger in 5e. Bargain! Now pay up before I slit your throat and steal everything you have.
We've Reached Our Goal: A Mammoth Thank You to All Our Backers! 🦣
8 months ago
– Sat, Mar 23, 2024 at 09:30:25 AM
We Did It! Born from Ice is Funded!
Dear Amazing Backers,
We've hit our funding goal! Thanks to the support of 531 backers, we've met our goal of $40,000. I'm thrilled to announce that Born from Ice will become a reality, and it's all thanks to you.
I am so grateful for your belief in this project. Seeing so many people come together to support my vision for a prehistoric RPG has been incredible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping bring this dream to life.
Virtual Tabletop Pack Unlocked
With this goal reached, the VTT (Virtual Tabletop) pack of digital assets (including maps, tokens, and handouts) will now be available to everyone who has pledged for a reward that includes digital items. This pack will make playing online easier in whatever VTT you choose.
More Good News!
Here's the even more exciting part: there are still 10 days left in the campaign. This means we are now aiming for our very first stretch goal: unlocking Neanderthals as a playable species at $50,000.
Adding a new species requires a surprising amount of work (more so than a lot of other game elements), which is why this is a stretch goal. Not only does it require mechanics that fit thematically and scientifically with the setting, but it needs to be fun to play and offer something unique and different from other playable species (in this case, Homo sapiens). Beyond that, it then has to be tested and balanced with every other element of the game, since it can quite literally interact with all of them.
It's a challenge I would love to tackle! I know this is an exciting option for a lot of you (me too!), and I think it is within reach!
Let's Keep the Momentum Going!
With 10 days left in the campaign, you can help keep the momentum going! Share the campaign with friends, family, and fellow enthusiasts, and let's see how far we can take this incredible journey together.
Tell the people at your local gaming or hobby store about Born from Ice. We have a pledge tier available for retailers, so let them know you are excited about it!
Post a link in any online groups/forums you belong to where people are interested in RPGs or human prehistory. This could be a Discord server, a Facebook group, a Reddit community, or any other similar place.
Message your favorite RPG content creators on YouTube or TikTok and let them know what you love about Born from Ice, and that the campaign has funded.
Together, We're Making (Pre)History
Thank you for being a part of this incredible adventure. Here's to the stories we'll tell, the challenges we'll face, and the history we'll create together in the world of Born from Ice.
This is such a cool project with some truly legendary people contributing to it, including Ed Greenwood, Shawn Merwin, James Haeck, Dan Dillon, and many more. It features gorgeous hand painted watercolors by Emily Hare, in what can only be described as a dangerously whimsical style. The book is heavily inspired by works like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Alice in Wonderland, and the work of Jules Verne.
Included are 10+ new subclasses, the new Skulk race, the Channeler class, new feats and backgrounds, and new spells and magic items. For GM's, there are 70+ new creatures (all hand painted), new rules, recipes, and crafts, and a book of adventures set in Strangehollow.
