? If you back this project before May 4th, 11 PM CET, you will get Netherworld Tunnels, a collection of scenarios in print version, along with the PDF version (digital-only backers will only get the PDF version). 

? Also, by being an Early bird, you will be delivered first. International logistics are currently experiencing major disturbances, and deliveries can take longer than expected. By being among the first to back us, you will be among the first to be delivered 🙂

BIENVENUE!

Welcome to the page dedicated to our new book! We hope you will like it 🙂

?? ?? This project is available in French and English. You will choose the language of your rewards during the pledge manager phase.  Check out the page in French on Ulule. The campaign will take place at the same time on Ulule and Kickstarter and the results will be added together to unlock more bonuses. Through this  campaign, we want the international Fateforge community to meet around  our common passion, role playing game! Enjoy 🙂

?? This project is US, UK, Canada, Australia and EU shipping-friendly (no customs, lower shipping costs, see details below).

Creatures: Netherworld in a Nutshell

Creatures: Netherworld is a 400-page monster compendium and toolbox for your next campaigns, featuring more than 180 illustrated creatures for all levels, including 150 entirely original ones and 30 great classics with a new spin such as the Aboleth or the Chuul, 5 playable species (Drow, Duergar, Sidhe of the depths, Grimlocks, and Svirfneblins), adventure hooks, new feats and handicaps, 12 original magic items, 8 original archetypes providing you with material to design new monsters for your games… and much more!

As a game master, you have a lot to do. Planning, writing, sometimes drawing, and much more!  We’ve been DMs for over 20 years and we are here to help. With this book, we want to offer you as much material as possible to make your job as a DM easier. Prepare your next game session or upgrade your worldbuilding by picking from Creatures: Netherworld’s rich contents and cook up your own unforgettable stories!

Feedback From our Backers

Creatures: Netherworld is part of the Fateforge series, featuring material for 5E campaigns and offering hundreds of game options, fully original lore, new creatures, magic items, classes, and playable species. Following the incredible support we received last year, check out the messages our backers left after receiving their rewards:

???“ Got everything today and I must say it looks absolutely top tier. This is probably some of the best production value I’ve seen from a 3rd party DND supplement. Can’t wait to try it out in a real game.”  Nicolaisen B.

???“ Absolutely astounded by the delivery of the Fateforge Kickstarter from Agate. The art is unbelievable and everything is just such great quality. I cannot believe how amazing all this stuff is!”  Mandy H.

???“ I’ve been gaming since 1979… so as you can imagine, I’ve seen and owned my share of RPG books. This is the most beautiful RPG book I’ve ever held in my hands.” David P.

Download a Preview of Creatures: Netherworld

Work on Creatures: Netherworld started in France in 2020. It took our studio two years to put together the 400 pages and hundreds of artworks within. The book is now almost finished and will be sent to backers shortly after the present campaign ends.

You can download a 66-page preview here on DrivethruRPG. Enjoy! You can use this direct link.

We are offering freely downloadable samples of Fateforge books on DrivethruRPG.These previews will give you a good idea of the work we put in and of what you will receive. Enjoy!

???” Studio Agate, from my experience, you have always done amazing work and these projects were no exception to that. I can’t wait to back more of your projects.” Sam H.

???” This is easily the best Kickstarter I ever backed. Everything was so high quality, you guys should be proud of all the hard work.” Brad B.

???” I am completely blown away by the production quality in literally everything. These books are simply gorgeous! Flipping through them in person, I am completely mystified with the art and lore of Fateforge, and can’t thank y’all at Studio Agate enough for making these.” Captain Kazam

Contents of Creatures: Netherworld

Here is a presentation of the book’s highlights. Creatures: Netherworld is at the same time a monster compendium and a toolbox for your next 5E game sessions:

? Monster Compendium

A compendium of 180 creatures for your subterranean campaigns, including 150 entirely original ones and 30 augmented great classics such as the Aboleth or the Chuul.

Dragons and legendary creatures. Creatures: Netherworld features 2 new species of dragons and 15 legendary creatures, as well as 6 lairs for extraordinary encounters.

A new antagonist of epic proportions for your campaign: Canker! This entity lurks in the bowels of the underground. Some see it as a deity, others as a cancer gnawing at the world from the inside. Canker takes shape in many creatures of all CRs embodying its two aspects: the Hideous Scourge and the Dislocating Sublime.

Blackwater: A threat hailing from cosmic depths, spreading through the Netherworld via the efforts of Aboleths and aberrations.

Familiars for your characters. Last but not least! Creatures: Netherworld features 13 new familiarsavailable to player characters such as the Opaline frog, the Flying soldier beetle, or the deep tick… !

?️ Toolbox

New playable species and new options: 5 playable species, 11 subspecies, and new options for character customization, featuring new handicaps, feats related to the book’s species, and magic items.

Archetypes. Game leaders who design their own adventures and campaigns will sooner or later need to tweak available creatures or create new ones. Creatures: Netherworld includes 5 new archetypes that can be applied to existing creatures, allowing for the creation of customized antagonists, allies, and encounters based on existing creature profiles.

Varied ingredients and resources for your next campaign into subterranean locales. Cultures of the Netherworld; dangers and wonders of the underground; daily life presented bit by bit across the book to favor immersion, guidelines on creating a party of Netherworld natives, resources on isolated languages and dialects… Creatures: Netherworld is much more than a catalog of monsters to defeat. It offers a full-fledged world, featuring potent ingredients to design your next campaign and covering 3 very different styles: Horrific dark fantasy, Twilit wonder, and Mystical science fantasy.

20 Netherworld Perils: Subterranean worlds are fascinating, but can also be highly hazardous! Perils are environmental dangers akin to large-scale traps, most often natural: avalanche, blizzard, ash storm… or simply altitude sickness! Perils are one of our original creations, and were designed to add a new, thrilling aspect to your games. May they bring you and your players a lot of fun, tension, and challenge! Creatures: Netherworld features 20 new Perils: 5 Perils of the mines and caverns (including several ones with adjustable dangerousness), 7 Perils of the depths, and 8 supernatural Perils of the Netherworld.

Modular system. Creatures: Netherworld uses the modular system, a collection of optional rules ranging from epic to gritty, allowing you to fine-tune the atmosphere of your campaign. Each modular rule comes with its associated icon.

 Here are three examples:

•  Action. This icon indicates all the  rules, magic items, and situations that offer epic options and emphasize  the characters’ feats and achievements.
•  Corruption. The Corruption icon shows  situations and magic items that lead to corruption, or which are only  relevant to a corrupted creature.
•  Dark. The optional rules, magic items, and situations indicated by this icon are all related to horror, madness, or corruption.

? Stretch Goals

Let’s travel through the depths of the Netherworld and discover its treasures!

The base goal will support the book’s printing. Beyond that, we have  several bonuses and upgrades planned to thank you for your support 🙂

To ensure a reasonable delivery schedule, all the bonuses of this campaign have already been designed. Your support will enable us to manufacture them and, most of all, send them to backers as gifts! Most of the bonuses unlocked during this  campaign will be available later (late pledge) but will then become paid options.

With your support, we can keep the Fateforge series growing. Should  this campaign’s backing go beyond the stretch goals planned, we will add  digital bonuses exclusively, to make sure that the delivery won’t be delayed.

? Rewards Summary

? About the books and covers

There are 3 available covers for Creatures: Netherworld. The $80 reward tier and up allows you to choose between any of those 3 covers.You will choose your cover during the pledge manager phase.

• Standard Edition (1) (later available in retail),
• Fateforge Edition (2) (later available in retail)
• Red Dragon Edition with an alternate cover (3), exclusive to this Kickstarter ($80 reward tier and up).

Other than the cover, the content of each edition is exactly the same.Copies of the Red Dragon Edition may be available at conventions or during special events, but not in retail. The Fateforge edition is particularly relevant if you are a collector of the Fateforge series.

? Creatures: Collector’s Pack ($80)

This tier gives you access to the limited edition of the book (Red dragon, alternate cover), but you may opt to receive the Standard or Fateforge Edition instead. You will also receive the book Resurgences of the Netherworld (collection of 5 scenarios in the Netherworld), the PDFs of the book and accessories, and all the stretch goals unlocked.

? Creatures: Complete Collection ($130)

In addition to the Creatures: Collector’s Pack rewards ($80), you will get several exclusive accessories: 1 Deck of 30 Familiar Tarot Cards, the Aboleth Battlemap (A2 format), 6 Lair art prints (Aboleth, Pale dragon, Beating growth, Sublime dragon, The Gardener, The Queen), a set of 6 Familiar Character Sheets, and a Creatures: Netherworld folder for all your accessories.

? Fateforge 5E Deluxe Collection

In addition to the Creatures: Complete Collection reward tier ($130), the  Fateforge Deluxe Collection reward tier includes the two 5E core books  of our creation :

•  Adventurers (corebook, hardcover, 400 pages);
•  Grimoire (spells and magic, hardcover, 330 pages);
• Game master screen

You will be given the choice between the Fateforge and Red Dragon edition for your books. Only the cover changes.

Fateforge is a self-contained RPG using the 5E augmented system. If you are already a 5E player, these books offer a new campaign  setting, as well as a multitude of options and additional rules. If you  are new to roleplaying games or do not own books using the rules of the  5th Edition of the oldest roleplaying game, these books contain all the  SRD basics rules and all you need to get started.

To discover Fateforge, download for free the 90-page Player’s Guide on DriveThruRPG. You can also watch the trailer below, produced for the launch of the series in 2019. Enjoy!

???“A tense collection of well thought out 5e rules, exciting twists and a promising setting”  Geek Native – Read the full review here.

???“Fateforge is a well written, beautifully  designed reenvisioning of 5e.  I’ve spent hours on Reddit trying to find  solutions about how to handle  intrigue, or mysteries, or darker,  grittier feel better – a lot of the  time the answer was: “nah, just use  a different system, it’s not what 5e  is for”. Studio Agate is proving  that with well-thought rules and  useful tips on narration, you can get  that feel. Love it.” Chris L.

???“Powered by a very robust and highly  polished ruleset, Fateforge offers a heroic fantasy universe with a  unique French touch: poetic and epic, with a rich lore and in-depth  characterization.” Dice Everywhere

Here is also something we are very happy to share with you! This is the  first episode of an Actual play played on Let’s Role, featuring Amelia  Rose Blair as the GM. Players are Erika Ishii, Alexander Ward and Bryan  Dechart. It is based on the story of Benjamin Diebling The Butterfly’s  Dirge. This scenario will be available as an addon during the pledge manager. Enjoy!

? Fateforge 5E Complete Collection

The big one. To celebrate our new book, we offer you some of the LAST COPIES of this huge bundle including the Creatures: Complete Collection reward tier, the full Fateforge Tetralogy available in hardcover deluxe version (Adventurers: Fateforge Core book, Grimoire: Spells and magic, Encyclopedia: Lore book and tool box, and the very first volume of Creatures), 5 adorable familiar minis and the STL files, the game master screen, a collection of limited edition items and the contents of the All In digital reward tier.  

All this material is 5th Edition compatible and will soon be out of stock. 

Dive into Fateforge with this complete collection!

???” I am VERY impressed by what I have received. It is going to take me a long time to get through it all! I am about halfway through Adventurers so far. I am particularly impressed by the world building and the way the world is integrated with the rules, both with the new and modified rules, but also the core rules.” David C.

???” I have supported many kickstarters mostly RPG related and I have never commented on a single one (mostly out of laziness but also because usually things meet my minimum expectations). But I had to take the time to discuss these books because for the first time I was blown away. I went all in and am super thankful for it. These books look amazing and based on my cursory looks appears to contain some detailed world building which I love! I cannot wait to dive into the rest of the books.” Will W.

???” Absolutely stunning and arguably the best and highest quality 5E material I’ve bought. Beautiful.” Kyle J.

⚠️ Please note that the final printed products may differ from the  mock-ups on this page. Nevertheless, theses pictures give you a good  idea of what to expect ^^

Based in France, Studio Agate is an indie studio gathering a few dozen creative people. We have become specialized in the creation of imaginary worlds, the writing  of scenarios, and transmedia. We design roleplaying game books  (including Shadows of Esteren, the most award-winning French RPG), music albums, and video games. We also translate and publish licenses of great games (7th Sea, Vampire: the Requiem) under the Agate RPG label.

Creatures: Netherworld was conceived and directed by three women: Iris (co-author of Fateforge and Lead designer), GinL (Art director) and Destiny (Publisher). Around them, this project involves more than 20 people, including proofreaders, mapmakers, writers… Many thanks to them and congratulations for their work over the last years!

The books are ready to be printed. Backers will receive their PDFs right after the end of the Kickstarter campaign.

We hope to have all the physical rewards delivered to all backers by November 2022. We have scheduled for about 6 months of manufacturing, shipping and some extra time, but in the current context, manufacturing and shipping times can be extended considerably. We have no control over these aspects and it is possible that deliveries will be delayed until Christmas or even Spring 2023.

⚠️ If you don’t want to run the risk of waiting for your rewards, please do not back this project. You can instead wait for the public release scheduled after all backers have been delivered. Thank you very much for your understanding and kindness!

? Retailers

If you are a retailer, select the $100 Retailer reward tier as a  deposit. You will be included in the pledge manager phase, at which  point you  will be able to acquire all the items from this campaign at a  retail  discount (50% off MSRP). You will be billed for the balance of  your order later, before delivery. We support the network of  independent  retailers and offer free delivery 🙂

Do you want to stock our product? Contact us.

? Shipping and Customs

⚠️ Please, read carefully before backing this project 🙂

This project offers US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and EU friendly shipping. 

Physical rewards will be sent from our US, UK, Canadian, Australian and French hubs. We will take care of customs for these countries. If you live in these countries, you won’t have to pay additional customs fees or duties upon the arrival of your pledge and you will pay a much lower shipping cost.

Shipping fees will be added after the campaign, during the pledge manager phase. Below are a few shipping fee estimates for the Creatures: Printed Version reward tier ($50). The exact  amount will depend on the weight of your package. Unlocked Stretch goals can increase shipping costs. 

•  USA & France: around $14
•  Europe & UK: around $18
•  Canada & Australia: around $20
•  Rest of the world: $50 and more

We are using Backerkit as our post-Kickstarter management website. Through Backerkit, you will be able to let us know of your delivery  address, and also to add extra books and options to your pledge,  depending on the remaining stocks. Your PDFs will be  available on your Backerkit account.

Studio 2 Publishing and ShipQuest are our distributors and logistics partners.

This campaign is powered by the Crowdfunding Agency and promoted by Backerkit.

⚖️ Legal

Creatures: Netherworld for the Fateforge role-playing game is published by Studio Agate under the Open Game License version 1.0a Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast.

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as  Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a,  Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered  trademarks, proper names (setting, characters, deities, etc.), the modular system and its icons, new creatures, new rules, new magic items, dialogue,  plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork (including the logo),  and trade dress.

Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see  above), the game mechanics of this Studio Agate product are Open Game  Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section  1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open  Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission  of Studio Agate.

Copyright: The illustrations, texts and logo are registered  trademarks of Studio Agate. All contents are protected by the World Intellectual  Property Organization and the laws on Intellectual Property.

Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork presented herein is prohibited without the express written consent of Studio Agate.

Do you want to localise Fateforge in your country ? Contact us.