Caliya’s Chronicle of Runes

February Update
over 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 06:53:01 PM

Hey folks! Quick update here.

Last night I sent out the Alpha v0.12 Playtest PDF, so go check that out if you haven't already!

This includes the first batch of monsters (roughly half of all the monsters that will be included). The update also includes a few small revisions to some of the languages (check out the "Translating & Writing in Runic Languages" section in the Appendix if you haven't yet!), as well as some other tweaks throughout.

Keep in mind that once all the content is in the book—which now just means the rest of the monsters and a couple optional rules—there will still be a period of time for "Beta Testing" (probably at least a month) of me thoroughly going through and making final revisions before sending it to print. That will be the final opportunity to share any feedback you have. Though I will also gladly accept feedback now if you come across anything!

To mark the release of the first monsters, I'm gonna share a stat block here just to get any immediate thoughts from you folks. (This is primarily focusing on the stat block format itself, rather than the specific statistics of this monster, but all feedback is welcome.) It's quite a challenge designing a custom layout for stat blocks! So if anything sticks out to you, good or bad, feel free to comment below!

That's all for now folks. Please reach out to me if you have any questions (either here on Kickstarter, by emailing [email protected], or over on the Discord server).

Thanks, friends!

– Tony

January Update
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 08:04:21 PM

Hi folks! Monthly update here for Caliya's.

Woo, it's been a month. In terms of content, the book is getting super close to complete. (And rightly so, as I know many of you are anxiously awaiting the final release!)

A couple weeks ago I sent out Alpha v0.11—the first playtest PDF to include the transcriptions (i.e. letter-by-letter breakdowns) for each of the runic languages, barring a couple that are still being finished up. So go check that out if you haven't already!

In addition to tidying up some bits related to that, this next playtest update will include a good portion of the last major section of the book that hadn't yet been included: the Bestiary. I'm very excited for this, as in my mind it's sort of the culmination of how to tangibly implement these languages in your game in a way that players can interact with—usable monsters and NPCs. Really makes the languages feel more "alive."

Once the Bestiary is complete (along with a couple other odds and ends), I'll officially mark the playtest as in "Beta" phase—meaning all content is present in the book, and it's time for any final feedback and revisions before sending it off to print!

Stay tuned for that announcement so we can get all feedback in to make the best version of the book possible!

As always, feel free to reach out to me here on Kickstarter if you have any questions, email me at [email protected], or just come chat over on the Discord server. Thanks, friends!

– Tony

December Progress Update!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Dec 26, 2024 at 08:17:44 PM

Greetings folks! Hope everyone's having a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season! Apologies for sharing this update a few days later than my typical "monthly update on the 20th."

I sent out the latest PDF update (v0.10) a couple weeks ago (featuring the new, handy-dandy Table of Contents!), so if you haven't grabbed that yet, be sure to do so!

I also wanted to give a 'thank you' to everyone who has reached out to offer feedback, and a special shoutout to fellow backer Russell (aka Count Archos) for his extremely helpful review of the book's runes. Feedback like this—even for just one or two items—makes the book infinitely better for everyone, so it's always very exciting to see.

This next PDF update should be ready within a week or so, and we're really closing in on the final product, complete with the final set of runes: Serpentine! Importantly, this update will finally include the writing systems for (almost) all of the book's languages. I know lots of folks have been waiting on this for a long time, so that should be an exciting holiday treat!

These scripts are featured in an Appendix section at the end of the book and detail all of the letters, numbers, and punctuation for every language, as well as the special features unique to each language. This coming update will show how to read/write in the following languages:

• Abyssal
• Celestial
• Common
• Constellar
• Deep Speech
• Draconic
• Dwarvish
• Elvish
• Giant
• Gnomish
• Goblin
• Halfling
• Infernal
• Nodal
• Orcish
• Primordial
• Sahuagin
• Serpentine
• Sphinx
• Sylvan
• Undercommon

For those counting, that's 21 of the book's 25 languages. The ones yet to be added are Necril, Druidic, Thieves' Cant, and Wilderyn. The latter three are "logographic" languages, meaning they aren't written alphabetically, but rather where individual symbols represent entire words or phrases. These are notably more complex, so they'll take a bit more time to detail.

The only remaining section of the book that has yet to be included in some capacity is the monsters. Though most of the monsters are already created, it's been a challenge setting up a good format for the stat blocks in InDesign, so I'm currently having a layout specialist help me out in setting that up. Those should be included in the update after this one, later in January. That will likely be the start of "Beta" playtesting, which will sort of be a "last call" for feedback from folks before the book is finalized.

If you have any questions or notes for feedback, feel free to reach out to me here on Kickstarter, via email ([email protected]), or just send a message on the Discord server. Thanks, friends!

– Tony

November Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 06:39:35 PM

Hiya folks! Got a monthly update for you.

I've been making some solid progress on the book! If you haven't downloaded the latest Alpha Playtest yet, it was sent out a couple weeks ago. Let me know if you're not getting emails or if you're having trouble accessing your downloads. ([email protected], or just hop on over to the Discord server) Happy to help!

I wanted this next playtest release to be the first "Beta" playtest—which in my mind will be when all of the content is in the book, but not necessarily fully edited/revised/finalized yet. But I think I'm gonna take a lesson from the last release and just send out what I've got by the end of next week, rather than keeping you all waiting as I push to get to that "checkpoint."

One thing of note: Until now, I've just relied on built-in Bookmarks for folks to navigate the PDF. So the thing I'm most excited about that will be in the Alpha v0.10 PDF (and I'm sure quite a few folks will be happy to see it as well) is... drum roll please... the Table of Contents! People have been asking about it for a while, but I wanted to make sure I had the layout/structure for the book fairly solidified before putting it together.

This next release will also feature the "Rune Variant Rules." These are optional ways to implement the rune system other than the standard assumption of the book (acquiring discrete "magic item"-like runes and transferring them to various objects). These variants include implementing runes as:

• Runic tattoos (for folks who want to transfer runes to their body, rather than objects)
• Enchantments imbued directly into objects by specialized magic-users (for folks who want all the mechanics without the runic flavor)
• Data chips (for folks looking to implement the runes in a modern/sci-fi setting)

I think that's all I've got for now. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions!

– Tony

October Update!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 11:18:08 AM

Greetings, folks! I hope all is going well for you.

Progress on the book is continuing to chug along! I probably should've sent out another playtest in between the last one (Alpha v0.8) and this next one I've been working on to continue getting new stuff out to you all. It just wasn't quite where I wanted it to be yet—and then I kept getting hit with hurricanes and other life events delaying things. (We made it through fine, thankfully!) So apologies for that.

That being said, the next playtest doc is nearly ready! In addition to the previously promised content that will be included, there have been two notable changes:

• The Kobold Viper race has been moved to the Ascension of the Behidra companion adventure book. In its place is now a collection of Dragonborn Variants giving expanded traits unique to each draconic ancestry. (I elaborated on this a bit more in last month's update.)
• The Command language has been renamed to "Wilderyn." The concept is still the same: an umbrella language collecting all the languages—or rather "dialects"—of intelligent beasts (e.g. Winter Wolves, Blink Dogs, Giant Eagles, etc.). The reason for this change was just that "Command" made it feel like the person speaking/communicating via the language is in charge and the intelligent beast is subordinate to them, which has never really been the intent considering, well...the fact that they're intelligent, and it's really their language first and foremost. I think Wilderyn much better reflects the spirit of the language.

Last week, I also sent out all the latest fonts that have been finished up (the new ones included are Abyssal, Goblin, Sahuagin, and Sylvan). So if you ordered all the fonts, or any of those individually, you can go grab them via your BackerKit downloads for the project. And if you still want to get any of the fonts for the book's runic languages, you can do so under the "Digital Loot" section on the Pre-Order Store.

I expect to have Alpha Playtest v0.9 sent out by early next week. And thanks for your patience since the last release. Until then, here's some fun new art that will be included for the Rivener lineage!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out here on Kickstarter, by emailing [email protected], or just chatting on the Discord server. Thanks, friends!

– Tony