D&D enhanced: A 350+ page tome of kaiju battles, crafting mechanics, and player options inspired by ancient folklore and yokai legend. Published by Loot Tavern.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Ryoko's Guide Is FINISHED! Printing, VTTs, and More!!
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 12:15:44 PM
We did it baby! Ryoko's Guide is out now!!
Yes, We're Still Alive!
Hey everyone! We wanted to avoid spamming you with updates as we closed up the final leg of our dusty trail to finishing Ryoko's, so we saved all the big news for today: Ryoko's Guide is finished!!
It's all here! The final digital file is now up on Backerkit to download and use
That means you can download the (effectively) final version of the Ryoko's Guide PDF from Backerkit today. Wrath of the Kaiju will be uploaded late next month as well (we're finalising the layout around the changed bits of text and additional pages). These are the versions of the books with all your incredible feedback implemented. And speaking of feedback...
Feedback, Changelogs, and Extra Material
Thank you so much to everyone who gave feedback. Across a playtesting group of over 10,000 people, we've managed to improve pretty much every element of Ryoko's. From balance tweaks, to grammar errors, to hidden memes, to adding an entire additional segment (because OF COURSE you should have the tools to build your own kaiju), your help has let us take both Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms and Wrath of the Kaiju to the next level.
"I've heard of an Epic Feat in D&D, but this is ridiculous..."
If you're interested in seeing what's been updated, you can see all the changes in this handy changelog. Praise be to Mel, for putting this document together (I am assured cataloguing grammatical changes across two 300+ page books taxes the very fabric of one's soul).
Upon receiving your feedback, we took it upon ourselves to add a bunch of new material to the book. Not only the additional Build-A-Kaiju rules, but new spells, magic items, spell lists, subclass features, tables, and stat blocks needed to be created and implemented. This also meant getting new art commissioned too.
Circle of the Yokai Druids can now turn into Construct yokai, like the Hone Karakasa!
The feedback period is now closed. Mechanics-wise, we're locked in. However, there is still time to correct typos and grammar, or improve the wording and formatting of abilities for clarity before the final print run. That is why this version is called Ryoko's v0.9. If you spot any missing commas or feel something could be made clearer in the text, let us know on discord!
Implementing all the feedback and creating new material for the books took time, but don't worry! In the background, we've been preparing all the other stuff needed for printing the physical books, dice, cards, tokens, and other materials!
A couple of tokens! We can't share them all here, but they're coming both physically and digitally!
The Print Test
This past Sunday we sent off for the final Print Test for Ryoko's Guide. That means everything is getting printed and sent back to us in its final packaging. It's essentially the first "official copies" of everything, now that Ryoko's is fully completed. This step is necessary for us to assure the quality of all the packaging and printing is up to scratch. We've already done white sample tests (where everything is printed, but with blank pages), so this step really is the final round to make sure everything is as it should be!
With a book this beautiful, we're making sure that the print is 100% perfect before going into full production!
As soon as we can confirm that all the cards, books, dice, etc. are as they should be, that's when we go to batch production and shipping. In other words... We're pretty much right on schedule, baby! We'll make sure to update you when the final print tests arrive. If there's anything that needs changing, we'll let you know, but (touch wood) this should be the final step before we start sending you physical things.
VTTs + Other Things
Now that Ryoko's is finished, we can deliver it to the Virtual Tabletops it's getting published on. Implementing Ryoko's on those platforms is something the VTTs do themselves, it's not something we can do personally, but we'll let you know when it's up! Everyone who backed at a tier that includes VTT integration will be able to access it on their VTT of choice freely once it's out.
We can also now move on to collating the information for all the tokens, rules, music, maps, mini STLS, handouts, etc. for both the physical and digital versions of those products! We'll let you know when those are available for downloa in future updatesd, and they'll be included in your Ryoko's package when it ships if you picked them up as an add-on, or you grabbed a tier that includes them.
As part of that, we also made four additional NPC stat blocks for you to use! You can download those to use in your games, with original art, here.
Rob Hartley's fusionist element bender from the liveplay. His name is Nendo!
Projects We Love
If you're hungry for more subclasses, species, magic items, rules expansions, and more awesome stuff for D&D, here's a free magazine from the DnD Shorts Patreon! I publish monthly magazines there stuffed full of 5th edition goodness, enjoy the free magazine and if you're interested in more, consider subscribing on Patreon to get the last 3 months worth of content immediately for free, or grab individual issues here!
We're closing in on the final chapter of the Ryoko's journey now, and we could never have made it here without you. Beyond your incredible financial support of the project, your kindness, thoughtfulness, and good humour spread throughout the feedback and in the discord has been an endless source of energy and motivation for all the team.
Projects like Ryoko's Guide could never happen without community support, not only directly, but in how the entire community stood together to protect the rights of independant publishers in January 2023 over the OGL crisis. It's among the greatest honours of our lives to be a small part of your games, in thanks for everything you've done for us.
Remember to download the final version of Ryoko's Guide on backerkit, and pick up the final version of Wrath of the Kaiju if you're in the Game Ready tier or above when it drops next month. We'll keep you updated when more materials drop, and when the print tests are finished and your orders get sent out!
If you've got any questions head on over to the #ryokos-guide channels of the Loot Tavern Discord Server. Smaller, regular updates are given there more often too!
You can also reach us on the discord if you need any support, want to contact the team or upgrade your pledge. You are awesome, thanks for being so awesome - it's awesome how awesome you are.
- Will and the Team
Ryoko's Updates, Changes to D&D, and More!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 11:53:28 AM
Thumbs up from a surfing kaiju? Just another day in the life of an adventurer in the Yokai Realms
Howdy Everyone!
Since we last spoke, there's been two big updates to the Ryoko's BETA! The first one updates the Kaiju chapters (introducing the Build-A-Kaiju section), Equipment, and Weapon Masteries. The second update dropped a couple of days ago, and updates Harvesting and Crafting and Creature's of the Yokai Realms.
Among other changes, some yokai have had their Type updated, for example, the tsukumogami are now Constructs, rather than Fey!The Yokai Druid has also had an update to match, letting you change into Yokai Constructs too!.You ever want to turn into a dragon umbrella? Of course you have.
At the core of our philopsophy as we finalise the book is ensuring everything is as easy and fun to navigate and explore as possible. There's a brand new, masive Crafting Reciple list with EVERY RECIPIE in Ryoko's and Wrath of the Kaiju now, so it's easier than ever to know exactly what you can craft and how you can craft it. We've also added some beautiful Creature Reference tables so you can effortlessly find creature's statistics, CR, Allignment, Type, and page number. All of this is hyperlinked so you can quickly jump to the stat block you're looking for using the PDF.
When they told me we had a "Yokai table", I thought I'd be meeting a sentient dinner table. But this is cool too, I guess.
This will make life easier for GMs looking for creatures to build encounters with, and for playing looking to find options as a Yokai Druid or a Tamer. You can grab these updated PDFs on Backerkit if you want to dive in right now with the most recent material: Log in to Backerkit, then go to: My Projects > Active Projects > Ryoko's Guide > My Digital Downloads.
Production and Packaging Is Going Great
Ryoko's physical production is is coming along great and on schedule. At the moment, we're finalising the layout of the core and deluxe boxes, preparing for the white sample prototypes. This is more complex than it looks, but we've managed sort out packing everything safely, without any wasted space, excess weight, or unnecessary packagaing materials!
Here's the manufacturing guide for the Ryoko's Deluxe Box! This is almost the final version, we're just hoping to link the cardboard inserts to minimize packaging and then it's ready!
Changes to Dungeons & Dragons
You may have heard that Wizards of the Coast are publishing an update to the core Dungeons & Dragons system this year. We've had the opportunity to explore the new rules and PHB in full, and can confidently confirm that all 5e content from any publisher is fully compatible! With that in mind, we're interested to know what your thoughts are for the games you play at your table. Do you intend to make use of the 2024 updates to the core classes? Tell us what your thoughts are in this poll!
He's not snarling, he's SNEEZING!
Projects We Love
Our great friends at Arcane Minis just had a spectacular launch to a new, full world system for 5e: Moonsoon! Moonsoon is the first publication (aside from Ryoko's) to make use of both Heliana's-compatible magic items and the Ryoko's Kaiju Battle System!
Monsoon is a new 5th edition campaign setting centred around the power of 12 celestial moons; explore the new Moon Deck Mechanics to influence and transform your journey in incredible ways. It has over 600 pages of beautiful worldbuilding, 11 Playable Races, 13 Subclasses, and tons of new spells, creatures and monsters, epic avatar battles, and craftable items & oddities. Check them out here!
If you've got any questions, or want to grab regular Ryoko's updates the moment they drop to backerkit (including the Changelog's of everything that is updated between new editions of the BETA), head on over to the #ryokos-guide channels of the Loot Tavern Discord Server.
You can also reach us on the discord if you need any support, want to contact the team or upgrade your pledge. We're close to the finish line now, folks!!🥳🥳
- Will and the Team
May Update - Updated Races & Classes (And a Kaiju Sized Gift!)
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, May 22, 2024 at 02:45:16 PM
'Sup y'all!
We've almost finished arranging the final version of Ryoko's Guide and Wrath of the Kaiju based on your incredible feedback (we'll have the full PDF to you within the next few weeks), but we wanted to pop in early to drop some parts of it first!
The Updated Races & Classes Are Out (beta v3, doc v0.15)
We had over 2000 pieces of feedback for these two chapters alone! As such, we're getting it to you early to explore. The biggest class changes were to the Skeletal Blade, Tamaya Rogue, and Shinobi Wizard, although almost every race and class has had some improvement based on your playtesting.
The Tamaya Rogue have had the gold requirement for spellbombs removed, and had a few extra bombs added, all of which was great feedback! Now you can explode people for FREE!
We have a changelog Google Document you can check out if you want to see all the things that have been improved. You can download this update using the same old link on Backerkit. There are 2 PDFs available, the old v2 Beta and the new v3 of just races and classes. If you already downloaded v0.14 of the file (uploaded yesterday), a new version (v0.15) has just dropped.
There is still time to give feedback on the races and subclasses! You can use the original feedback form; we focused on these two chapters first to give you that extra time to review and leave any final suggestions or playtesting experience.
Monks now get proficiency with new weapons, including the chakram, sai, and shuriken, in addition to a reworked Gate of Air and Gate of Earth letting them act as impressive tanks!
More Kaiju Business
The anticipated kaiju-conversion expansion that walks through changing a normal stat block into a kaiju stat block will be out in the final version of Ryoko's Guide. We're also adding schematic pages to WotK (also included in the cheat sheets for anyone who grabbed those!) with the kaiju's sizes. The kaiju tokens are coming along swimmingly, and they're... well, take a look...
Not to scale, but here's all the kaiju tokens in black and white made small so you can see them all in one image! These aren't finalised and are subject to change!
But wait, there's more, we've got a new kaiju mini STL for Raiko, the Infinite Tempest, for everyone who backed the Kickstarter or on Backerkit and has the Wrath of the Kaiju book. HE'S SO CUTE!!
Created by Archvillain Games, here's Raiko! FREE for everyone with the Wrath of the Kaiju book where his adventure appears!
Shout out to Archvillain Games for making this miniature for the project, and speaking of Archvillain Games...
Our amazing friends at Archvillain Games, the creators of the stunning Kabuto and Raiko kaiju miniatures, have just launched an electrifying new Kickstarter today: Erevan's Guide to Death and Beyond!
Rise Again: Begin your journey after a total party kill (TPK) and resurrect your characters as formidable undead races.
Power Through Defeat: Graft the limbs of your vanquished foes to boost your strength and abilities.
Magnificent Minis: Collect more incredible miniatures to enhance your gameplay experience. Introducing Erevan’s Guide to Death and Beyond, an epic companion book for D&D 5E that takes over when your party meets its end!
Venture into the treacherous Death Valley, battle fearsome unholy beasts, face off against monstrous megabosses, and explore all-new Profane Lairs. Forge alliances with otherworldly familiars and navigate the perilous underworld. Plus, discover and craft powerful magic items and spells crucial for surviving in the realm of the dead!
Excitingly, their crafting systems and familiars are fully compatible with Heliana's Guide and Ryoko's Guide, ensuring seamless integration and endless fun! Don't miss out on this thrilling adventure. Support the Kickstarter and bring your campaign back to life in the most extraordinary way possible!
That's all for the moment! The next update will be the final PDF of the core and adventure books!
If you've got any questions, or want to join the party and discuss Ryoko's with others, head on over to the #ryokos-guide channels of the Loot Tavern Discord Server.
- Will and the Team
April Update: Bonus Kaiju + A Surprise Gift!
almost 2 years ago
– Thu, Apr 11, 2024 at 02:09:46 PM
Entering The Final Form!
Ryoko's Guide Enters It's Final Form!
In response to your incredible feedback and playtesting, I'm delighted to announce the writing for Ryoko's is finished! We're now in the deep trenches that is arranging and implementing the feedback, nearly 1000 pages of art, mechanics, tables, and stat blocks. I like to call this final process the "oh god, what have we done?!" part of making three books.
But we're getting there! Almost every art piece is done, and we can't wait to get it all together for you for the 1.0 release. Implementation of feedback is a big job; across both books, it's over 60 A4 pages full of changes. Concurrently, we're making a change-log of every improvement implemented so you can quickly and easily see what's new. Even then the job's not done because the final version is going to include some extra, awesome things in response to your feedback, so get ready for:
A guide for building your own kaiju! It's a step-by-step process for converting any existing stat block into an epic kaiju boss battle. Kaiju tarrasque? Kaiju Red Dragon? Kaiju kobold?! You'll now have the tools to make it happen! Even better, the step-by-step guide demonstrates the process using a stat block in Ryoko's, meaning there's now an additional kaiju stat block for you to play with in the core book, Vulnerable Areas, Behaviour table, and all!
The Ancient Ōmukade Rises!
18 bonus stat blocks, based on every subclass in Ryoko's Guide! These humanoid stat blocks are perfect for GMs looking for statted NPCs, or ways to make encounters more interesting by flavouring simple enemies with class features. Each stat block also comes with a brief guide on how it behaves in combat - it's tactics, behaviour, and character. They also make for a great way for players to hop into a game. Want to guest in a game for a few sessions? Do you have a player new to the game who wants something more streamlined while learning the basics? Grab one of these stat blocks as your character for a quick, simple, and fun way to play with everything taken care of.
Told ya that we had tons of gorgeous new art coming through!!
Thousands of improvements based on your suggestions! These include tweaks to the Element Bender to allow Benders to benefit from the Weapon Mastery system with their Elemenetal Strikes, more early game options for the Yokai Druid's Wild Shape, mechanics for the Impact property, adding Domain Spells for the Shrine Warden, and... look you gave a lot of great feedback; we have over 60 pages of notes on stuff that's been improved! We can't wait to get it out to you as soon as the arrangement is done.
Big Boi Betobeto!!
Katana Holder STL is now on Backerkit
...and it's looking beautiful! Everyone in the Digital Deluxe Tier, Deluxe Tier, and All-In Tier can download and print this bad boy from Backerkit right now. The STL is also available as an add-on if you want to pick it up. Here's a picture of one we printed!
The Coolest Dice Holder Ever? Painted by Courtney De Vries.
Coolest Dice Holder Ever! Painted by Courtney De Vries.
And on the subject of awesome of STLs....
A Surprise Bonus Kaiju Mini!!
We teamed up with the 3D-modelling superstars Archvillain Games to create another kaiju mini, and we're giving to you! Enjoy a FREE STL of Nomi, the kabuto kaiju. It's a big beetle, about 102mm tall, 89mm wide, 75mm deep; look at how awesome it is!!
Speaking of Archvillain Games, check out their upcoming Kickstarter!
Erevan’s Guide to Death and Beyondis the upcoming 5E Tome that brings you dark spells, unholy monsters, arcane craftable items, and undying mega bosses! It also comes with an uncanny new campaign for levels 1 through 10! Find out what happens after a Total Party Kill!
The book will include new death mechanics, an Undead Grafting System, more than 10 terrifying Megabosses, each with its own miniature, more than 10 Profane Lairs, each with its own gruesome mechanic, 8 new haunting races, otherworldly familiars, dark subclasses and all you need to create the best haunting, cursed stories for your games!
And the book is being designed to be wholly compatible with the Crafting and Harvesting system found in Ryoko's, Heliana's, and many other projects!
Grab a teaser PDF along with the impressive Voragheel, the Vampire Dragon mini STL to get yourself started!
If you've got any questions, or want to join the party and discuss Ryoko's with others, head on over to the #ryokos-guide channels of the Loot Tavern Discord Server.
- Will and the Team
New Subclasses, Weapon Mastery, and More! Ryoko's Guide Update!
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 03:35:03 PM
Oh yeah, things are looking REAL good!
BETA TEST ROUND 2, BABY!
What's up fellow Ryokids! The updated Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms and Wrath of the Kaiju BETA-releases are out now on Backerkit! (Note: these are updated files for the existing downloads, you will not see a new item listed on Backerkit. So All you need to do is download them again and it'll pull the updated BETA.) They include a TON more stuff (including stretch goals unlocked over the campaign) for you to explore and give feedback on! As before, this is the BETA-version, so some art may be missing or unfinalised, but the core material is ready for you to sink your teeth into! Let's talk about what's new....
"Water" you lookin' at?! - Gerry, the Isetsu Element Bender
The Weapon Mastery System
The much awaited Weapon Mastery System is now out in Ryoko's Guide! This massive expansion to the core rules brings incredible customisation to all martial characters, and makes weapon choices matter! Every weapon now plays a huge part in your character's story and gameplay, with progressive Technique Trees to explore as you progress in levels, unlocking new, incredible abilities that represent your growth and skill as a warrior. Exciting combos and creative gameplay aren't just for spellcasters anymore!
This is my weapon, I called him"Mr. Stabby", because he stabs people.
New Subclasses
They're finally here! You can now imbue your adorable familiars with powerful martial techniques as a Sensei Tamer, blow stuff up with pyrotechnics as a College of Hanabi Bard, and create devestating combinations of elemental forces as the Disciple of Fusion Bender! These subclasses have been added to the Classes chapter in Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms, alongside the core rules of the Tamer class (which first appeared in Heliana's Guide).
Some smol familiars doing what they love
New Spells, Stat Blocks, Feats, and Familiars
But wait, there's more!! The following bonus stuff has made its way into the updated BETA for you to check out!
The final round of familiars have been added to Wrath of the Kaiju
Several new Yokai stat blocks have been added, introducing many more forms for the Circle of Yokai Druid to adopt at lower levels, like the Kasha, Narigama, and Ushi-Oni!
See Future Death was a spell we forgot to include in the first BETA-release, but it appears here to round off the spells in the Shinigami Warlock spell list, alongside some other new spells like Extract Shirikodama, and Lifesap Aura!
Two new feats have been added that interact with the Weapon Mastery system: Dedicated Combatant and Martial Initiate.
Only slightly less angry and hate-fuelled than an ordinary house cat.
Feedback Progress
We're hard at work going through the feedback y'all have been sharing post-BETA release! Your response has been incredible, and we're acting on suggestions and tweaking bits and bobs to ensure the final book is 100% perfect. Most feedback inspired changes haven't made it into this new BETA-release because we're still collecting feedback (including any thoughts you might have on material introduced in this update), but we have already started implementing your suggestions and are loving how everything is coming together.
When smoking is REALLY bad for your health...
All in, everything is going amazingly and we're right on schedule! It's been incredible to see so many people come together and enjoy Ryoko's already, as well as lending your voices and ideas to make it even better! As a reminder, the feedback forms can be found here:
If you've got any questions, or want to join the party and discuss Ryoko's with others, head on over to the #ryokos-guide channels of the Loot Tavern Discord Server.
