Vault of Monsters is a 5e-compatible adventure rooted in British folklore, full of creatures with personality, lore with attitude, and encounters that escalate without asking permission.
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There are now around 12 hours left before the doors to Vault of Monsters close.
The campaign has grown massively over the past few weeks, and we can't wait to bring you folklore-fuelled chaos. Thanks for all your support.
If you’ve been meaning to back the campaign, upgrade a pledge, or drag a friend towards the suspicious glowing doorway labelled “ancient containment archive”, now’s the time.
If you haven’t had a chance to grab a copy just yet, don’t panic, the pre-order store will be open after the campaign ends, so there’ll still be a chance to step into the Marches a little later on.
Thank you again for all the support throughout the campaign. It genuinely means a lot. Also if you are at the UK Games Expo come see us at Stand 2-894.
This time, we’re stepping away from graveyards, ancient constructs, and things that actively want to dismantle your party. Instead, we’ve got something a little more curious.
A little more… papery.
Still a problem, just in a very different way.
Scribbleknott Sketch
The Original Brief: Scribbleknott (Name locked in immediately. No notes.)
Scribbleknott resembles a cat-sized dragon made entirely of paper. Layers of folded sheets form its body, its wings covered in intricate runes and half-legible scribbles that seem to shift if you stare too long.
It doesn’t move in the usual way. It folds. Refolds. Reshapes itself. One moment it’s a small, perched creature. The next it’s something flatter, wider, or… less helpful to describe.
Each form comes with its own little tricks.
Scribbleknott is endlessly curious. It seeks out libraries, archives, and anywhere knowledge is stored, and makes itself at home. Books don’t stay books for long around it. It wraps itself around them, absorbing their contents directly.
It guards its collection fiercely. Fire and water are, understandably, not welcome.
Some say It is said to have been born from a spellbook that absorbed far too much magical energy. The result is a creature that is equal parts knowledge and chaos… watch out when you’re in the Latchford archives!
Scribbleknott Colouring
Inspiration & Direction
This one came from a slightly different angle. We wanted something that felt magical in a quieter way. Not destructive, not aggressive by default, but still capable of causing a lot of problems if handled badly.
There’s also a bit of a “curiosity gone too far” theme here. A creature that wants to learn everything, but doesn’t really understand boundaries. Or ownership. Or the concept of “please don’t absorb that, we were using it.”
Working With Nick!
Nick leaned straight into the texture on this one.
We asked for something that felt delicate at first glance. He brought in layered folds, overlapping sheets, and just enough irregularity in the lines to make it feel alive rather than constructed.
The runes and markings are deliberately messy. Not clean spellwork, but accumulated knowledge. Notes on top of notes, ideas layered over each other. It looks clever. It also looks like it hasn’t quite finished thinking.
We’ll be back soon with something less interested in your books… and more interested in you.
We’ve already started pushing towards stretch goals, which means more monsters are now creeping closer to becoming reality. After that come additional playable species, subclasses, and a few larger things we’ve still got hidden away for later.
There’s still plenty of time left in the campaign, and every share, comment, follow, and recommendation genuinely helps more than people realise.
For now though, we just wanted to say thank you properly.
Now we get to make the Vault even bigger. Which historically has never caused any problems whatsoever.
We’ve officially passed 250 followers for Vault of Monsters.
Which means there are now at least 250 people willingly approaching an ancient containment archive full of folklore creatures and terrible decisions. Strong start.
Thank you genuinely, it’s been brilliant seeing the response so far and watching the Vault slowly creak open.
We’re now pushing towards our campaign target and our first stretch goal, which means even more monsters being added to the book.
After that comes 4 new playable species, followed by 4 new subclasses waiting further down the road.
And yes, there are larger stretch goals still lurking in the dark that we haven’t revealed yet…. Very exciting!
Also, don’t forget to have a proper look through the pledge levels.
If you’re into Shadowdark and like your adventures fast, brutal, and full of pressure, check out The Cursed Flames by Revel Tales.
This upcoming supplement promises a dark survival-focused experience built around a simple idea: run, burn, and survive. Pre-launch followers who back the project will also unlock a bonus mini adventure, with an extra one for €1 reservations.
Plus, if you sign up to Vault of Monsters, you’ll get a free 5e playable species, the Squallborn, and a Bard subclass, the College of the Sounding Gale. Not a bad start.
Back again with another look behind the curtain, and this time we’re firmly back in “this is going to go badly” territory.
Not everything in Vault of Monsters is subtle. Some things are very clear about what they want, and unfortunately for your party, that usually involves bones.
This is one of those.
Cryptcrawler Head Sketch
The Original Brief: Cryptcrawler (Working Title)
Cryptcrawler is a hulking figure made entirely of bones, pulled from creatures of all shapes and sizes and forced together by dark, stubborn magic. It doesn’t move smoothly. It lurches. Joints grind where they shouldn’t exist. Its glowing green eyes don’t blink. They just fix on you.
It is driven by a single, very clear purpose. Collect bones.
Not for decoration. Not for ritual. For maintenance. It is fiercely territorial.
It tears apart anything that wanders into its territory, adding useful pieces to itself, repairing damage, reinforcing weak points, and occasionally building unpleasant little surprises around its lair.
Allegedly created by a necromancer to guard a crypt from grave robbers, it has outlived its master by a considerable margin. With no one left to give it orders, it has simplified its directive in the worst possible way.
Everything is either part of the collection or about to be.
Inspiration & Direction
For this one, we weren’t aiming for speed or spectacle. We wanted something that feels wrong to look at. A creature that shouldn’t hold together, but does anyway, purely out of spite and magic.
There’s also a practical angle. The idea that damage doesn’t stick in the usual way. The longer the fight goes on, the more the creature adapts, shifts, and rebuilds itself using whatever is nearby.
It turns the encounter into a question of control. Not just “can we kill it,” but “can we stop it getting worse.”
Cryptcrawler Inking Head Sketch
Working With Nick
Nick had a field day with this one. We gave him the brief of a creature made from mismatched bones, something that looks assembled rather than designed.
He came back with a shape that feels unstable in all the right ways. Different bone types layered together, proportions slightly off, posture just awkward enough to feel unnatural.
It’s one of those designs where the longer you look at it, the more details you notice… and the less comfortable you get.
Exactly what we wanted.
We’ll be back soon with something… Hopefully less interested in your skeleton.
The world of D&D is full of dragons and sentient furniture, but the British Isles are a mystical plethora of wild, haunting, and magical beasts that tell a rich tale of British and Irish folklore. The Vault of Monsters unleashes some of these beasties into your games of Dungeons and Dragons with brand new adventures, playable species and subclasses, and classic British irreverent humour. Vault of Monsters is a 5e-compatible bestiary inspired by British folklore, regional legends, cryptids, old superstitions, and the wonderfully strange things people have been whispering about for centuries.
Think Dungeons & Dragons meeting British folklore in a rain-soaked lane at midnight, then making the poor decision to follow the lights into the trees.
Inside the book you’ll find original monsters built for actual play: creatures with lore, tactics, encounter hooks, variants, lair details where they fit, and enough story flavour to drop them straight into your campaign without your brain melting out of your ears.
These are monsters for Game Masters who want more than a stat block. Each one is designed to feel like it came from somewhere. A village rumour. A cursed field. A canal nobody walks beside after dark. A moorland shape seen once in lightning and then wisely never discussed again.
The book blends practical 5e design with a very British kind of weirdness: dry, ancient, funny in the wrong places, and faintly damp around the edges... eww
By backing Vault of Monsters, you’ll help us crack open the doors and bring these creatures to print, with original human-made artwork, table-ready writing, and a bestiary that gives your players something fresh to fear, fight, bargain with, or make several poor decisions around.
The Vault is waiting...Best bring a lantern.
British Folklore with a Twist
Unique Monsters: The Vault draws heavily from the tone of British folklore. Discover unique homebrew creatures that can't be found in any official manual, from the sinister Tatty Bogle, the enigmatic Grindylow, and many more.
Detailed Lore: Each entry includes Monster Lore, adding depth to your encounters.
Dynamic Artwork: Our Artist, Nick Ashton of Chicken Monster, has brought each monster to life with stunning illustrations that spark the imagination and set the scene for epic battles.
Ready to run encounters: Unique Encounters for those monsters in a drop-in format, with clear objectives, twists, outcomes, optional complications, plus safety flags and content notes where they help.
Join The Adventure
Why support us You're funding the good stuff, art, writing, editing, testing, print, the whole lot. Your pledge means we can pay creators properly. You also get in early, playtest sampler, backer updates, so join our Discord Community - Click Here
Join us and help crack the Vault open. Together, let’s unlock the monsters and put them to work at your table.
Register your support on BackerKit now and level up your D&D nights.
