August turned out to be a very productive month: 99 pages completed! All while coordinating playtests, assigning, and receiving a mountain of art, and celebrating our anniversary! Much of this month's content involved creating material from rough notes -- not simply moving finished text into the final layout.
Web Covering, Arachnomancer Spell
We finished the Shining Knight and Skinweaver spells, created Lirra’s Venom Rite carousing table, numbered city maps, expanded city information, and began the creation of random Rumors tables (more on that later). We also moved the Ceremonies and Curiosities from Unnatural Selection into Druskara, making some improvements along the way, including allowing the Shaman to initiate ceremonies through their class talents.
A dozen volunteer playtesters also began digging into the campaign material and immediately made the book better. Their feedback convinced me that Druskara needed something I hadn’t planned: MORE RANDOM TABLES. We completed Random Quests and Random Dungeon Concepts, expanded a smaller dungeon, and added lore for Chroma Magic and Shining Steel (our much more twisted equivalent to mithril.)
Mind Graft, Skinweaver Spell
We added Druskara-specific Chroma Magic spells for every spellcasting class, including wonderfully strange creations such as All for One, Leap of Faith, Second Head, and Undead Unicorn. We also completed a dragon’s lair for low-level characters. HA!
Another major job was creating rumor tables by region and city. These take a LONG time to create. The d20 tables I originally planned were nowhere near large enough -- there’s simply too much cool stuff happening in these locations. I had to shift to d100 tables, and I love them! Some are even four pages long. Special thanks to the Discord discussion we had about rumor tables. It really helped guide the creation process! One of our testers said, "These rumor tables are a great reference for new GMs as they get started."
Healing Feast Spell
All this additional material has pushed the projected size of Realms and Rivals, our main world book, from just under 500 pages to at least 550 pages. Whew.
We closed August with the last remaining large capital: the Shining City. Most of it existed as notes, but we completed its city descriptions, events, quests, residents' stat blocks, and rumors. The section now stands at 32 pages! It’s our biggest city, has deep ties to Druskara’s worldwide events and lore, and I’m extremely happy with it.
And then there was the ART! OMG. What a beautiful month.
One week alone brought 15 finished pieces, with another five in their final stages. We received large pieces, spot art, and spell illustrations, some of which you see here! The quality has been absolutely stellar.
So that’s August: 99 more pages, a 32-page Shining City brought into final form, new and revised class material, quests, dungeons, carousing, ceremonies, curiosities, Chroma Magic spells, more random tables, and a flood of beautiful art.
That brings us to a total of about 750 pages completed with about 350 more to go! Our current pace is still holding over 2.5 pages per day, including weekends, which is a higher average than we'd planned for (but, our page count has increased as we've gone!) That still puts us in line to be finished with the four main books before the end of the year, and that's our goal. Editing and odds and ends will continue beyond that time, but we're happy with our steady progress!
If you'd like to participate in the creation journey, consider joining us on our Discord server where discussions and community playtests continue!
Time for another update! We've been posting weekly summaries in our Discord, so here's the digest for everyone who isn't there yet.
THE NUMBERS
Since the last backer update, we've completed roughly 98 pages. The week-to-week pace has varied, thanks to a number of factors -- including a convention. But despite that, this was our most productive month yet. We actually reached an average of 2.8 pages per day (including weekends!)
Crocodilian Spirit
WHAT WE DID
We've been deep in the fey. The Chelonian Village sits on a lake in the fey realm and has been suffering a curse for over a year: their gold mine has become inaccessible and their egg-laying has completely stopped. Also, beneath the city of Krystallia lies the Feydark -- an underground fey realm that was built over by a careless ancient hero.
Feydark Inhabitant
We finished the Shining City Palace dungeon and cellar, which Xane had run for our live stream group over multiple sessions. Because the material was so well-tested, we knocked out 8 pages in two days. (You can watch that playthrough on the Dungeon Damsel YouTube channel in the LIVE section if you are feeling industrious! http://youtube.com/@thedungeondamsel, episodes 3 – 15.)
Shining Palace Cellar
Then there's Gull Bay -- a coastal city with extensive playtest notes that went quickly. We did add one new wrinkle: MOLD STORMS, since the city sits close to the now-melted Ice Temple. We also fully fleshed out a carousing option called the Spirit Vigil, where players can work with a seer to speak with the dead. As you might know, each population center has its own carousing table with many different options, all tying into the lore and NPCs of the area. Our players really love the diversity of possibility and make it a point to try to carouse in each region.
Moon Temple
And then this past week -- 41 pages! These were the spell sections for the Arachnomancer, Grave Warden, Ovate, and Shaman (the last three pulled from Unnatural Selection). The reason for the speed: these spells had all been incorporated into InDesign, so this was mostly page layout work rather than converting notes into finished content. Xane also took the opportunity to fix some language in Unnatural Selection that didn't match proper Shadowdark style -- things like "near area" instead of "near cube" -- plus a round of buffs and nerfs based on three years of further testing and feedback from backers, which will also be incorporated into the second edition of Unnatural Selection.
BIND Spell
ON THE ROAD
We just got back from EGG Con in Lake Geneva! It was a fantastic trip. We ran the Chelonian Gold Mine there, where more players fell in love with the Skinweaver class. We also ran sessions of SUPERDARK to rave reviews -- lots of laughter and brutality -- which is exactly what we're going for.
Skinweaver
ART UPDATE
Some beautiful pieces have come in: Captain Narj of the Sand Sea, the interior spaces of more dungeon environments, art for the Aging Spire (a standalone time-travel adventure), the Moon Temple entrance, and Xane's favorite -- the Fool's Mold. In the Ice Temple, there's a type of nearly indestructible mold that giant snails love to eat. There's also a predatory, carnivorous mold that disguises itself as the snail's favorite…
Captain Narj
Fool's Mold
Sun Temple Guardian
Lava Ettin
PLAYTESTING OFFER
If you are a backer and you'd like to run a group through part (or all) of Druskara, please DM Xane in Discord or Bunni on Facebook! We love seeing how other GMs handle the material, and anyone who provides feedback we implement gets added to the credits. The Skinweaver class has been particularly popular in playtests -- players keep finding creative and devious ways to use spare corpses (fish gills for breathing underwater, griffon wings for flight, turtle shells for AC). Its popularity and creative use has exceeded expectations!
Ruins of Xal'Tarrak - Map
JOIN US ON DISCORD
If you'd like to follow along week-to-week, come join the community! After the last update, about 50 new backers jumped in, and it's been great to have them. Beyond the weekly updates, it's also where playtest opportunities are announced and where Bunni and I are most reachable. The more you engage, the better the final product gets -- and we love the interaction. We're fueled by it.
Parallel Shadows: Volumes 2 & 3 by Parallel Dimension Gaming — that's Casey Christofferson, who we also met at North Texas RPG Con! It's Volumes 2 and 3 of Shadowdark 'zines of an ongoing adventure series, and it's currently live on Kickstarter at 128% funded with 17 days to go. I’m sure you’ll love it!
Thanks for reading, and thanks as always for your support.
We wanted to let you know that we will be processing charges for add-ons and late pledges on Monday, July 27th.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, please take a moment to confirm that your payment information is up to date. This will help us avoid any unnecessary delays or issues.
Going forward, any new add-ons or late pledges will be charged on the same day they are placed.
NOTE: Late Pledges will still be open after Monday.
Thank you again for your incredible support! Monthly progress update coming soon!
Here's a rundown of everything that's happened on Druskara since the campaign ended. We've been posting weekly progress over on our Discord, but about half of you aren't there yet, so consider this the digest version.
The Numbers
Since the campaign wrapped, we've completed over 160 pages of final content. We've been averaging somewhere over 2.6 pages a day, including weekends, over the two months we've been keeping track. That's higher than the 2 per day we had set for ourselves!
CROCODILIAN UNDERCROFT
What's been built
We've integrated some of the oldest material in Druskara's history alongside brand new content. The Blood Forest and the Aging Temple were written almost four years ago, and revisiting them with everything we now know about the setting let us layer in details that hadn't been conceived back then.
We have finalized one of the most important locations in Druskara: the Lost City of Chromatica. We've also finished the Crystal Moon Temple, the Land Temple, the Black Coil smugglers' camp, the Sand Sea, Five Arches, the Crocodilian Undercroft, the Chelonian Mine, and the Crystal Ice Temple.
The Ice Temple had mostly melted (since the Crystal Ice had been taken from it) and was completely undefined in any of my playtest campaigns. After a great brainstorming session with Casey Christofferson of Parallel Dimension Gaming (a friend we met at North Texas RPG Con), we landed on a concept we love: mold. Lots of different, very deadly kinds of mold!
And most recently, we finished Brass Oak, which has always been one of my favorite cities in all of Druskara. A mile-wide tree housing a society of clockwork elves and their automatons. Jealous? You can become one of them by having your head removed and grafted onto a construct! Don't worry... it's painless!
For You
The Late Pledges/Pre-order store is live and the surveys are out and being processed through BackerKit! If you haven't filled out your survey, now's the time!
Art Update
New pieces have been arriving steadily:
RIME TYPHON
BOARFROST
ESCAPE FROM CLIFFSIDE
BOARFROST MAP
SKELETAL SPHINX and MAROUQ the DESERT WIZARD
SKULL TEMPLE ENTRANCE
We're amazingly proud of our incredible roster of artists. They keep blowing us away with each piece they create!
Want more frequent updates?
If you'd like to follow along week-to-week instead of waiting for these larger digests, come join us on the Dungeon Damsel Discord. You'll see more artwork posted there, and we often run playtests. We will also do polls, discussions about Druskara, live plays, and Play-by-Posts. So get over here and enjoy the fun!
If you've got a group willing to run a session through part of Druskara, we'd love to have you. Playtesters who give us feedback we implement get added to the credits, and it's invaluable for us to see how the material plays at other tables. Reach out to us on Discord or Facebook and we'll get you set up!
Thanks for your patience and support. We're making great progress, and we're excited about how it's coming together!
Many of you have chosen Pay Over Time (POT) and I wanted to address the main question being asked... "When will I get my survey?" So we've chosen to do an update to help answer a lot of your POT inquiries and a few other things!
When will I receive my survey?
If you're using Pay Over Time, your survey won't arrive until your pledge has been paid in full. Once your final installment successfully processes, BackerKit will send your survey by email, usually within 72 hours.
Will Pay Over Time affect my rewards?
Not at all! Your rewards are reserved just like any other backer. The only difference is that we can't ship anything until your pledge has been fully paid.
What about survey deadlines posted in updates?
Those deadlines are primarily aimed at backers who have already completed payment. If you're still making installment payments, don't panic—you won't be expected to complete your survey until your pledge is fully paid.
Can I change my installment amount or payment date?
Unfortunately, no. The payment amounts and scheduled charge dates are set by BackerKit and can't be adjusted. Payments can't be paused, delayed, split, or paid ahead individually.
Can I pay off my balance early?
Absolutely! If you'd like to finish your payments early, head to your pledge page and select "Charge Remaining Balance." Once processed, you'll be fully paid and may receive access to your survey sooner.
What happens if a payment fails?
No need to sound the alarm. Your pledge isn't lost, and you don't need to do anything right away. BackerKit will automatically attempt the payment again in 7 days.
What if multiple payments fail?
If a payment continues to fail after the retry, the missed amount gets rolled into your next scheduled payment. If multiple payments are missed, those amounts can stack together on the next charge attempt.
BackerKit provides several opportunities to resolve payment issues before a plan is canceled. However, if all retries ultimately fail, your Pay Over Time plan will be forfeited. At that point, the remaining balance becomes due in full and the installment plan cannot be reinstated.
How do I update my card or fix a failed payment?
Simply update your payment method through BackerKit. Once updated, the system will immediately attempt the charge again. If you don't make any changes, BackerKit will automatically retry the payment after 7 days.
I accidentally paid my entire balance!
Backerkit has seen this happen!
When a payment issue occurs, BackerKit may offer a "Charge Remaining Balance" option. If selected, you'll receive a confirmation message warning that the action cannot be undone.
Once confirmed, your entire remaining balance is charged and your Pay Over Time plan ends. Unfortunately, neither we nor BackerKit can restore the installment plan afterward.
If you didn't click that button, don't worry—the system normally only retries the amount currently due.
Need additional help?
For Pay Over Time questions, billing issues, or account assistance, BackerKit Support is usually your fastest route to a solution.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Dungeon Damsel support email?
support(at)dungeondamsel.com
When will cards be charged for pre-order store purchases and survey add-ons?
We're currently planning to charge cards between June 9th and June 16th.
Prepare thyselves. The merchants of Druskara will soon come calling for their coin. This does not mean your order locks, it just means any additional adjustments, or pre-orders will be charged automatically within 24hrs of purchase.
Titanbound partner collaboration freebie info
Backers who supported both the Druskara and Titanbound campaigns during their live runs will receive the Titanbound exclusive luck token as a free gift. This was a perk tied specifically to the live campaign period, and we want to honor that commitment to those who backed us while we were live. The item will be added automatically to the inventory of those eligible backers. We are ONLY responsible for the coin, while Titanbound is obligated to fulfill their cross-collab freebie zine. For those joining through the pre-order store, we genuinely appreciate your support, but this particular freebie was reserved for live campaign backers and is no longer included automatically. The luck token is still available to add to your order through the add-ons page, so you still have a way to get your hands on one (or 4)!
Can this be played in Solodark mode?
Yes! Solodark mode is coming to Druskara! This was a stretch goal we hit thanks to the incredible support from our community, and we are so excited to make it happen. We’ll be doing our best to adapt Druskara for solo play! This one’s for all the darklings and peoples of the realm who asked for it!
There are some Project FAQs listed in your survey for easy reference. For Backerkit specific questions, please reach out to Backerkit support. If you have questions without answers pertaining to this project or Druskara as a whole, please don't hesitate to ask below in this thread, or reach out to us personally.
Hopefully this helps some of you! And if not and you've dropped the torch... don't worry, the Dungeon Damsel team will do their best to fumble in the dark and re-ignite the flames. No party member left behind! Unless there's stingbats...
All surveys have been unleashed into the wild! Check your spam, your promotions, search Druskara... or GO HERE if the dungeon swallowed it whole, or you'd rather not explore the vile depths of the mailing sytem.
WOOT! Get it done adventurers! Reminder: Pre-order store is open to those who missed the initial campaign! This is your last chance to save on the bundles! Some items will NOT be sold after fulfillment, so get them while they're available. Find the Pre-order store HERE!
Please... if you have pledged, DO NOT pre-order! If you know you pledged and are having a hard time getting your survey, or are unsure if you did in fact pledge, please contact us or Backerkit support, and we'll do our best to find you in the system!
Dungeon Damsel Support: support(at)dungeondamsel.com Replace at with @
Also, we'll be venturing into the realm of North Texas RPG Con next week... come find us if you dare!
Many of you have chosen Pay Over Time (POT) and I wanted to address the main question being asked... "When will I get my survey?" So we've chosen to do an update to help answer a lot of your POT inquiries and a few other things!
When will I receive my survey?
If you're using Pay Over Time, your survey won't arrive until your pledge has been paid in full. Once your final installment successfully processes, BackerKit will send your survey by email, usually within 72 hours.
Will Pay Over Time affect my rewards?
Not at all! Your rewards are reserved just like any other backer. The only difference is that we can't ship anything until your pledge has been fully paid.
What about survey deadlines posted in updates?
Those deadlines are primarily aimed at backers who have already completed payment. If you're still making installment payments, don't panic—you won't be expected to complete your survey until your pledge is fully paid.
Can I change my installment amount or payment date?
Unfortunately, no. The payment amounts and scheduled charge dates are set by BackerKit and can't be adjusted. Payments can't be paused, delayed, split, or paid ahead individually.
Can I pay off my balance early?
Absolutely! If you'd like to finish your payments early, head to your pledge page and select "Charge Remaining Balance." Once processed, you'll be fully paid and may receive access to your survey sooner.
What happens if a payment fails?
No need to sound the alarm. Your pledge isn't lost, and you don't need to do anything right away. BackerKit will automatically attempt the payment again in 7 days.
What if multiple payments fail?
If a payment continues to fail after the retry, the missed amount gets rolled into your next scheduled payment. If multiple payments are missed, those amounts can stack together on the next charge attempt.
BackerKit provides several opportunities to resolve payment issues before a plan is canceled. However, if all retries ultimately fail, your Pay Over Time plan will be forfeited. At that point, the remaining balance becomes due in full and the installment plan cannot be reinstated.
How do I update my card or fix a failed payment?
Simply update your payment method through BackerKit. Once updated, the system will immediately attempt the charge again. If you don't make any changes, BackerKit will automatically retry the payment after 7 days.
I accidentally paid my entire balance!
Backerkit has seen this happen!
When a payment issue occurs, BackerKit may offer a "Charge Remaining Balance" option. If selected, you'll receive a confirmation message warning that the action cannot be undone.
Once confirmed, your entire remaining balance is charged and your Pay Over Time plan ends. Unfortunately, neither we nor BackerKit can restore the installment plan afterward.
If you didn't click that button, don't worry—the system normally only retries the amount currently due.
Need additional help?
For Pay Over Time questions, billing issues, or account assistance, BackerKit Support is usually your fastest route to a solution.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Dungeon Damsel support email?
support(at)dungeondamsel.com
When will cards be charged for pre-order store purchases and survey add-ons?
We're currently planning to charge cards between June 9th and June 16th.
Prepare thyselves. The merchants of Druskara will soon come calling for their coin. This does not mean your order locks, it just means any additional adjustments, or pre-orders will be charged automatically within 24hrs of purchase.
Titanbound partner collaboration freebie info
Backers who supported both the Druskara and Titanbound campaigns during their live runs will receive the Titanbound exclusive luck token as a free gift. This was a perk tied specifically to the live campaign period, and we want to honor that commitment to those who backed us while we were live. The item will be added automatically to the inventory of those eligible backers. We are ONLY responsible for the coin, while Titanbound is obligated to fulfill their cross-collab freebie zine. For those joining through the pre-order store, we genuinely appreciate your support, but this particular freebie was reserved for live campaign backers and is no longer included automatically. The luck token is still available to add to your order through the add-ons page, so you still have a way to get your hands on one (or 4)!
Can this be played in Solodark mode?
Yes! Solodark mode is coming to Druskara! This was a stretch goal we hit thanks to the incredible support from our community, and we are so excited to make it happen. We’ll be doing our best to adapt Druskara for solo play! This one’s for all the darklings and peoples of the realm who asked for it!
There are some Project FAQs listed in your survey for easy reference. For Backerkit specific questions, please reach out to Backerkit support. If you have questions without answers pertaining to this project or Druskara as a whole, please don't hesitate to ask below in this thread, or reach out to us personally.
Hopefully this helps some of you! And if not and you've dropped the torch... don't worry, the Dungeon Damsel team will do their best to fumble in the dark and re-ignite the flames. No party member left behind! Unless there's stingbats...
Since we just smashed through the $135K stretch goal (thank you!!), we wanted to start a discussion here instead of sending another update and flooding everyone’s inbox.
For this stretch goal, the community will get to vote on a new Class and Ancestry to be added to Druskara. We have some really cool ideas ourselves, but we want to hear what you have been wanting to see at the table.
Classes:
What do you feel is missing from the classes already released in Unnatural Selection, Shadowdark, or other 3rd-party supplements?
Is there a class fantasy you’ve always wanted to play but haven’t really seen done yet? Something that would make you excited to roll up a character and jump into a campaign?
Ancestries:
Same deal here... what ancestries do you feel are missing from Shadowdark right now?
While we’d prefer not to create a full animal-folk zoo, we do have an idea for how something like that could be implemented if it’s something people really want.
What ancestries would be fun for you to roleplay? What would bring something new to your group’s table?
Drop your ideas in the comments!
When we post our next update, we’ll gather the most interesting suggestions and turn them into a community poll so everyone can vote.
We also have a major stretch goal announcement coming up that’s absolutely killing us to keep under wraps… but you’ll just have to build a little anticipation.
(Also, we’re honestly not sure how many people hang out in the discussion tab… so if you’re here, hello!)
Right now, the book is sold out — but with so many new backers discovering Dungeon Damsel through Druskara, we’re considering bringing it back for another print run. Unnatural Selection is woven into the four books that make the Druskara Core Set. Despite this, you're still hungry for our original creation. Unnatural Selection birthed the roots from which Dungeon Damsel Publishing grew from.
What if we re-print? If we did, the book would be updated to the new format/design internals as Druskara, so that they can exist seamlessly alongside one another. See some of the campaign imagery to find out what that may look like. We would also open up a few new pledge tiers to accommodate the book.
Before we make that decision, we want to hear from you...
Would you like to see a reprint of Unnatural Selection: The Untamed and the Underworld? Vote in the poll below and let us know! Your feedback will help guide what we do next.
August turned out to be a very productive month: 99 pages completed! All while coordinating playtests, assigning, and receiving a mountain of art, and celebrating our anniversary! Much of this month's content involved creating material from rough notes -- not simply moving finished text into the final layout.
Web Covering, Arachnomancer Spell
We finished the Shining Knight and Skinweaver spells, created Lirra’s Venom Rite carousing table, numbered city maps, expanded city information, and began the creation of random Rumors tables (more on that later). We also moved the Ceremonies and Curiosities from Unnatural Selection into Druskara, making some improvements along the way, including allowing the Shaman to initiate ceremonies through their class talents.
A dozen volunteer playtesters also began digging into the campaign material and immediately made the book better. Their feedback convinced me that Druskara needed something I hadn’t planned: MORE RANDOM TABLES. We completed Random Quests and Random Dungeon Concepts, expanded a smaller dungeon, and added lore for Chroma Magic and Shining Steel (our much more twisted equivalent to mithril.)
Mind Graft, Skinweaver Spell
We added Druskara-specific Chroma Magic spells for every spellcasting class, including wonderfully strange creations such as All for One, Leap of Faith, Second Head, and Undead Unicorn. We also completed a dragon’s lair for low-level characters. HA!
Another major job was creating rumor tables by region and city. These take a LONG time to create. The d20 tables I originally planned were nowhere near large enough -- there’s simply too much cool stuff happening in these locations. I had to shift to d100 tables, and I love them! Some are even four pages long. Special thanks to the Discord discussion we had about rumor tables. It really helped guide the creation process! One of our testers said, "These rumor tables are a great reference for new GMs as they get started."
Healing Feast Spell
All this additional material has pushed the projected size of Realms and Rivals, our main world book, from just under 500 pages to at least 550 pages. Whew.
We closed August with the last remaining large capital: the Shining City. Most of it existed as notes, but we completed its city descriptions, events, quests, residents' stat blocks, and rumors. The section now stands at 32 pages! It’s our biggest city, has deep ties to Druskara’s worldwide events and lore, and I’m extremely happy with it.
And then there was the ART! OMG. What a beautiful month.
One week alone brought 15 finished pieces, with another five in their final stages. We received large pieces, spot art, and spell illustrations, some of which you see here! The quality has been absolutely stellar.
So that’s August: 99 more pages, a 32-page Shining City brought into final form, new and revised class material, quests, dungeons, carousing, ceremonies, curiosities, Chroma Magic spells, more random tables, and a flood of beautiful art.
That brings us to a total of about 750 pages completed with about 350 more to go! Our current pace is still holding over 2.5 pages per day, including weekends, which is a higher average than we'd planned for (but, our page count has increased as we've gone!) That still puts us in line to be finished with the four main books before the end of the year, and that's our goal. Editing and odds and ends will continue beyond that time, but we're happy with our steady progress!
If you'd like to participate in the creation journey, consider joining us on our Discord server where discussions and community playtests continue!
I'm curious how difficult it would be to combine the two settings as different regions in the same world and if any thought on the subject has gone into the design?
