African Monsters: A D&D 5E bestiary of African legends

All PDFs are available for download EXCEPT African Monsters
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 01:41:53 PM

Hi all,

I've gotten a number of questions about downloadable files from Backerkit. In the prior update, we said all of the completed files were available for download, and then two paragraphs later stated that the African Monsters bestiary itself was not yet complete but was scheduled to be finished around the end of April. 

1. Missing African Monsters PDFs: For backers who are only getting African Monsters, that means your PDF is not available for download, because that's the one book that's not yet completed. If you got a bundle of multiple products, you'll find all your PDFs except African Monsters in your Backerkit account.
2. Other Missing PDFs: We did also figure out that the Egyptian Adventure Bundle and Hoard Monsters PDFs were not syncing, so I created new download rules for them and it looks like they're downloading fine now, so if you saw those missing when you first checked your Backerkit, check again and they'll be there! 
3. VTT Modules: As a side note, I've also sent out the activation codes for all VTTs (except, again, for African Monsters), and since we didn't have large numbers of them I sent them by individual email rather than through a Backerkit code bank. 

Looking forward to getting the final piece of the puzzle headed your way! 

Orders locked and downloads available on Backerkit!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Apr 14, 2025 at 04:34:58 PM

Hi all,

Quick message today to let you know that with over 70% of our backers having responded to their Backerkit surveys, we've locked orders in thus far and charged credit cards, and all backers who have completed their surveys can download all of your PDFs from Backerkit! 

Now that we have a pretty good count of VTT orders, we'll also be uploading VTT code banks so that you can download those and activate the VTT modules you have ordered. Those should be ready for you this week! 

The main African Monsters bestiary itself is close to finished. I had to pause work for some time to deal with quarterly payroll and US tax filing season for the family and our two businesses, but I'm back on the job getting everything assembled and hopefully will have it off to layout by next week! 

Thanks once again for your amazing support of this project and we hope you love your monsters when they arrive! 

P.S. As we've noted before, the Wardens of the Wild QUICK-starter will be launching this week, with tons of terrific class options for rangers, druids, and wilderness characters of every kind! The PF1 and 5E books have finished layout and are ready for immediate fulfillment as soon as the project ends, and the PF2 book is in final editing and should start layout in the next day or two. We've also just started the Roll20 module for Wardens of the Wild 5E, so that will be ready for the project too! Sign up and get ready for the Wednesday launch!

Backerkit Smoke Test Sent!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 09, 2025 at 01:58:47 PM

Hi all,

Thanks for your patience with the survey. We had a weird glitch where a bunch of items got created/imported twice and we had to basically disentangle everything and rebuild the survey, but it looks like everything is fine now. I've sent out the "Smoke Test" which will go to 5% of backers so they can review the survey and make sure everything is working as it should. We'll check back in tomorrow to address any issues that come up and then we'll be sending the survey out to everyone! 

A few quick notes for you:

• What About Tariffs? International trade has certainly been in the news a lot lately, and none of it is good news for the games business. That said, for the most part, tariffs won't affect this project. We are printing African Monsters with a print service that has three factories: 1 in the USA (ships to US/Canada/Mexico), one in the UK (ships to Europe), and one in Australia (ships to AUS/NZ/Asia). It is possible that backers in Canada or Mexico might encounter some kind of import duty, though so far books have been stated as exempt from most of the tariffs. Everything is changing constantly, though, including a supposed "90-day pause" on tariffs announced today (except for China), so there's no way to know for sure. The other bestiary books either use the same printer (Swarms and Hoard Monsters) or are already printed and here in our inventory. 
• How Soon Will African Monsters Be Ready? We are still hoping to get the book started in layout around the middle of April and ready to send out to you at the beginning of May. VTT Modules for African Monsters will start production once the PDFs are finalized. Other VTT modules are already complete. Once you've got the PDFs, we'll be submitting to our printer and will get books shipped! Because a lot of our bestiary books are here in stock already, for backers who are getting the print bestiary bundles, we may start shipping the in-stock books from here once we have collected shipping fees and then circling back to ship the three books coming from our printer together once they are finalized. 
• What About Other Legendary Projects? We shipped out the last packages for our Hoard Monsters project (5E and Pathfinder 2E) this week, so that project is now fully complete! We also sent out the first of two PDFs for our Arcforge Universe (Pathfinder 1E) project earlier this week and should be sending out the second one tomorrow. Once they clear print approvals, we'll start shipping books for that one too! 
• In addition to finishing off old projects, we also are preparing new ones, and as we mentioned last update we are getting ready to launch our Wardens of the Wild project NEXT WEEK (D&D 5E plus both Pathfinder 1E and 2E), our latest class compendium for wilderness classes like druids, rangers, and so much more! It's a great companion to our Battlemasters & Berserkers, Clerics & Cultists, and Templars & Tyrants class books and we hope you'll sign up to check it out! 

Backerkit Survey Submitted!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 12:37:52 PM

Hi all,

This week was juggling fulfillment on our Hoard Monsters Backerkit campaign with some other projects, but in between I was also getting our Backerkit survey for African Monsters finalizaed and sent over to them for review! It usually takes a few days for cross-checking before they approve a survey, but we expect to have it back and ready to go early next week. We may need to make some last-minute adjustments but then we'll send out a "smoke test" to 5% of backers so they can do a live test and make sure it's all working smoothly. Assuming no issues (or after fixing any that occur), we'll have the survey go out to everyone hopefully by this time next week! 

As we noted in our last update, we had to do some late reassignments as some contributors did not complete their work, but those are coming back in now. We look forward to getting the new bestiary into layout by mid-April and ready to start sending out by the end of the month! 

Of course, even as one project finishes another is always on the horizon, and we wanted to invite you to our next project, Wardens of the Wild for D&D 5E and Pathfinder 1E & 2E! We've done a bunch of monster projects in a row and we're excited to pivot back to another killer class compendium in the vein of Battlemasters & Berserkers, Clerics & Cultists, Templars & Tyrants, Sword and Fist, and Defenders of the Faith! In these pages you'll find a ton of terrific new class options, archetypes, spells, magic items, feats, gear, and more for druids, rangers, and every wilderness adventurer! Plus, get massively discounted bonus bundles with our Faerie Bestiary and Faerie Campaigns to really bring the untamed wild to life in your campaign! This project will be launching next month, and we hope you'll check it out and share it with your fellow 5E fans and Pathfinder players! Share the link right here! 

Thanks to all for a lovely project!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 11:52:18 AM

Hi all,

Thanks as always to each and every one of you who supported this project, with RedSharkGaming grabbing the last pledge of the campaign with the World of Monsters bundle! We are excited to get his project moving along and headed your way. Here are some updates along the way! 

• Pledge Surveys in Progress: I've already started working on our Backerkit survey and hope to have it submitted for approval by the beginning of next week, so we'll be able to send the survey to everyone by this time next week! Keep an eye out for future updates, and when we send out surveys check your email and reply ASAP! 
• African Monsters Assignments: I had to reassign some of the work on the project as a few authors and artists did not complete their assignments, but we should have that in the bag by the beginning of April and ready to start layout. 
• Domestic Printing Means Faster Fulfillment: As we noted in the FAQ for the project, the ongoing tariff situation could impact this project and the calculus of whether it would make sense to do a full overseas print run based on the number of pledges and unit cost. In the end, we'll be printing the books in a smaller run here in the USA (and some with a UK partner printer for European customers). The plus side for you is that means a much shorter production turnaround cycle, so if all goes as expected we should be ready to start shipping books by the end of April or beginning of May!
• Close Enough for Ajun! We didn't quite officially make it to $25,000 to unlock the Ajun stretch goal like I thought we would, but I'm adding him to the book anyway! May as well; we already ordered the art! 
• African Monsters II Coming This Summer: As we mentioned before, we'll be running a companion project later this summer with Pathfinder 1E, Pathfinder 2E, and Tales of the Valiant versions of African Monsters. We'll let you know when that goes live.
• Next Kickstarter: Wardens of the Wild! Coming in April, we'll be launching our next class-focused project for 5E, PF1, and PF2 with Wardens of the Wild, focusing on druids, rangers, and all manner of class and character options for wilderness campaigns! If you enjoyed Battlemasters & Berserkers, Templars & Tyrants, Clerics & Cultists, Sword and Fist, and Defenders of the Faith, we hope you'll check out these new class books coming your way soon! 

Thanks again for your amazing support and we hope you continue to follow along with Legendary Games!