Mechanical Monsters: Clockworks & Cyborgs for DnD 5E and Pathfinder RPG

So. Many. Edits. But just about there!
7 months ago – Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 05:16:59 PM

Hi all,

It's been a minute, but updates ahoy! 

1.  Mechanical Monsters 5E: There's been a lot of back-and-forth slogging through edits and proofing and edits and more proofing, because each time we reviewed the "soft proof" of Mechanical Monsters we just kept finding little things here and there that snuck through. We also went back, since we were doing these corrections, and added a Proficiency Bonus line to the stat block of all 140 creatures. Long story short: The book is finally done and ready to start printing. We thought we were ready before, but as I said, back and forth, back and forth. A lot of it just perfect formatting, making sure your bold and italics are in the right spot, proper spacing with + signs, and all that kind of thing. You can only be late once, but you can be wrong forever, and we always strive for Legendary quality. You're gonna love this book when it comes through, and as soon as we get our pre-press sample copies (our printer usually sends 6 over to us), we'll draw lucky numbers and some of you will get your copies early. We'll be posting up the final fixed PDFs by this weekend for you to enjoy while we await shipment.

2.  Alien Bestiary 5E: This one has been a much heavier lift than we anticipated, having to essentially rebuild the entire print PDF from scratch, but we are very nearly done with the full rebuild on this 440-page behemoth beast book. Our backup layout person has been hard at work with this as his only project for LG, slogging through *522* edits in the initial galley version, and he's almost to the finish line. We'll keep you updated once the final fixes are in and upload the new PDF once it's ready for you!

Updated Mechanical Monsters PDF, plus Foundry VTT now available!
8 months ago – Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 05:41:23 PM

Hi all,

As always, we appreciate your awesome support of this project! We've got some exciting updates for you:

• We received our "soft proof" from the printer and went through it, doing another end-to-end proofing pass, and as we already had corrections to submit, we decided to go ahead and add in the Proficiency Bonus to each stat block, as per the new 5E standard format. All corrections have been made and all stat blocks updated with that information, and the new interior file has been sent back to the printer for final check and approval on their end. We should be able to have these books sent to us along with our other shipments when they come! Meanwhile, you can download the new PDF on Backerkit or on DrivethruRPG! 
• Our VTT partners have been hard at work, and we are pleased to announce that Mechanical Monsters 5E is now available on Foundry VTT! You can order it right here at the Legendary Games webstore and also at DrivethruRPG! It's already available on Roll20 and Shard VTT, which you can get through our Backerkit preorder store! 
• We are getting close to completion on Mechanical Monsters for Pathfinder Second Edition! Once we've got it ready, we'll be launching a followup Quick-Starter for PF2 fans to get in on all the mechanical fun, and of course anyone who missed out on the 5E & PF1 version can grab copies of those too! If all goes well, we might be able to launch this project next month. 

Thanks again for your amazing support and we hope you love using these mechanical monsters in your campaign! 

Alien Bestiary 5E layout complete and first and second proofing passes done!
8 months ago – Fri, Aug 18, 2023 at 04:52:37 AM

Hi all,

I've been holding off on an update until I had firm news to report, but our new layout person just finished the layout work on the Alien Bestiary (5E), and I've gone over the entire thing front to back twice, proofing and editing to get this book ready to hand back to him. *522 comments later* and it's done! The file is now back with layout to make revisions and get everything shipshape, with another pass afterwards to make sure that everything has been addressed. 

This book is an absolute MONSTER, around 430 pages altogether pending final adjustments to layout, with a killer collection of creatuers you're going to be delighted to use in your campaign. I chose this sample spread because this is what my brain feels like right now. Time for sleeeeeeeeeep! 

But also time to celebrate, because the revised Alien Bestiary (5E) is on its way! 

5E printing ready to begin, and Alien Bestiary layout in progress!
10 months ago – Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 02:09:01 PM

Hi all,

Quick update time! 

1.  Mechanical Monsters Print: We've been working with the printer on Mechanical Monsters 5E, getting everything properly set up in layout, and we've sent in our deposit on the print run and are ready to get our test prints. We'll soon be shipped a complete set of "test plotters," a loose-leaf set of the entire print book to go over for the final proofing pass. It's an important step because inevitably you can spot errors that sneak through once you see it on a printed page that slip by on a computer screen. Once that proofing pass is complete, we'll make any final corrections and the print run will be underway! 

2.  Revised Alien Bestiary: For those who added the Alien Bestiary 5E, layout on the revised version of that book is still ongoing. It's taken longer than expected, but our layout artist says he's still confident in getting it finished up by the end of July. Once we've got that corrected PDF in hand, we can send that to the printers and get things approved there, review the test plotter, and get the print run moving. 

3.  Anyone for an Alien Bestiary (Starfinder): We didn't include this as part of the Kickstarter, but in going through our storage we found a couple of boxes remaining of the Alien Bestiary (Starfinder) hardcover that I had thought might be entirely sold out. While Starfinder already has plenty of mechanical monsters, this 448-page bestiary contains an incredible collection of monsters. Let me know if you'd like to get a copy of this Starfinder supplement in PDF or print and I'd be happy to hook you up with those at a Kickstarter discount. Just reply by Kickstarter messenger or email to me at [email protected] and I can do a Paypal invoice for you. 

4.  Mediterranean Monsters: Last but certainly not least, we recently launched our Mediterranean Monsters Kickstarter, featuring an incredible collection of monsters from the legends and lore of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Malta, and Sardinia! This Kickstarter is 5E only, incorporating both this bodacious bestiary and also the newly expanded Mother of Monsters Adventure Path, but we're also working on the PF1 and PF2 versions at the same time and will be running a follow-up KS later this year for those versions of this book. If you've enjoyed our marvelous monster books and more, we hope you'll check it out for over 120 (hopefully 150 with stretch goals) killer creatures from southern Europe and northern Africa, plus awesome adventures inspired by Greek mythology. 

We hope you'll check it out and climb on board. We've done a lot of research with authors and artists from many countries across the Mediterranean and this is going to be a beautiful book indeed. Please share with your fellow 5E fans and friends and Make Your Monsters Legendary! 

Fulfillment BEGINS! Plus more updates!
11 months ago – Sun, Jun 04, 2023 at 03:20:53 PM

HI all,

Last night we processed around 60 print orders for backers who were primarily getting the Pathfinder RPG version of Mechanical Monsters. Since those are print-on-demand, once the book cleared at the printer we were able to start getting books moving. A few quick notes:

1.  Because of some quirks in how products have been uploaded over the years, especially our older PF1 products, not all print books will be shipping together. 

1.  The following PF1 books will be shipping from Lightning Source: Mechanical Monsters PF1, The Robot Summoner, Magitech Archetypes, Starfall, Alien Bestiary Companion, Alien Codex

2.  The following PF1 products will be shipping from Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing: Cyborgs, Metal Heroes, Scorpions of Perdition, Treasury of the Machine. 

3.  For the small number of folks who ordered a copy of the Alien Bestiary (Starfinder), those will be shipping directly from Legendary Games. 

As for our 5E books, those are currently printing with our overseas printer. However, in a bit of less-good news, it turns out that all of our old InDesign source files for the Alien Bestiary (5E) were corrupted. We've tried several workarounds to try to reassemble a usable layout file for printing from the existing standalone PDF, but unfortunately they've all turned out to be dead ends. We definitely do want to produce a fully revised and updated version of the Alien Bestiary (5E), but to do that we're going to have to need a complete redo of the layout from scratch. We're talking with our layout folks to expedite that process as much as possible so that we can get that to you sooner. It's doubly a bummer because we thought that updating the old book would be a simple process and a quick turnaround but alas, that is not going to be the case. Just wanted to keep you up to date on the final pieces as we await our print books for 5E so we can send them to you! 

UPCOMING NEWS! 

1.  For anyone who didn't pledge for it during the project, you can get the VTT version of Mechanical Monsters 5E for Roll20 right here!

2.  Our Pathfinder 2E team is making excellent progress on Mechanical Monsters for PF2. As Paizo refines the new ORC license and gets to their final version, we expect to be ready to launch this second round of the Mechanical Monsters project later this summer, hopefully with Foundry VTT support. 

3.  Last but not least, we hope you'll check out our newest Legendary Bestiary project launching later this month, Mediterranean Monsters! We are sending out our last batch of monster design orders and art orders this week for the expanded creature listings drawn from our research trip to Morocco, Spain, and Portugal last month. We are excited to show off the incredible creatures of this region's rich folklore and hope you'll love seeing this book