Zaman's Guide to the End of Time (And How to Fix It)

Are you ready for a survey?
10 months ago – Thu, May 22, 2025 at 08:25:00 PM

Finalising Orders

ChefTinyT here! Backerkit Surveys are coming very soon: they will be ready by May 26th! That survey is the place where you will enter your shipping information, upgrade book covers, choose your VTT (If you got one), and add on any other things you may have missed. You’ll be able to update payment information if your kickstarter pledge didn’t go through and check if the products in your basket match what you were expecting!
 

In order to make sure everything is working, we'll run a "smoke test" this week (it's actually already running). That's where we take a very small number of backers at random, and send them the survey early just to make sure everything is working. When we have no issues, we’ll send the survey out to the rest of you!
 

What is this survey anyway?

The Backerkit Survey is *your* survey. It's the place for you to confirm your details, confirm your pledge, make sure your payment information is up to date and grab any last minute goodies. For example, many people who purchased the Core Book and Game-Ready Tiers were interested in upgrading their book covers to the Deluxe versions. This is the place you can do that! Speaking of upgrades, let's talk about Slipcases.

Deluxe Cover Upgrades and the Slipcase

When you get to the pledge manager on Backerkit, you’ll be able to upgrade things! You can get the fancy foil-embossed Deluxe book covers as shown above, or even upgrade to the Slipcase as shown below!

Slipcase. Here's how this works: The slipcase will be packaged by the manufacturer with the three books inside of it: Deluxe Zaman’s, Deluxe Chronowyrm, and the Art Book. and packed as a single unit (which prevents damage in transit). The slipcase appears as a single line item in your basket—don’t worry if you don’t see the books individually listed.

Book Tier. If you’re in the book tier and want to upgrade to the slipcase, the cheapest option is to change your pledge level by clicking ‘Switch You Pledge Level’ and choosing the Game-Ready tier. Then follow the steps in the paragraph below.
 

Game-Ready and Core Box. If you're in the Game-Ready or Core Box tier, you can upgrade to this slipcase for $100 (this takes into account the two Deluxe cover upgrades and the Art book).

Deluxe and All-in. If you're in the Deluxe Box tier, you can simply add the slipcase addon for $20. The all-in tier already gets the slipcase!

Already Added the Artbook. If you already added the Art Book as an addon in Kickstarter and choose to get the slipcase bundle, let us know by immediately contacting Backerkit Support and ask them to "remove the Art Book Kickstarter addon because you have selected the slipcase addon". They'll remove the extra Art Book so that you don't get two of them! 

Shipping and Addresses 

Shipping and Taxes. Shipping and taxes will be charged once the project is close to fulfilling in around 18 months. For a breakdown of estimated shipping charges, consult this image. For taxes and duties, consult your government's information.
 

Addresses. Thinking you might move? Zaman's is expected to fulfil in Q3 of 2026. Closer to that time, we'll send out reminders asking you to update your addresses. Don't sweat it until then.
 

In need of assistance?

If you have any questions you can reach us through our email, where I, ChefTinyT, will get back to you in no later than two business days. An even better way you can reach us is the #zamans-questions-answered channel of the Loot Tavern Discord Server, where answers are usually less than a day away.

-ChefTinyT and the Loot Tavern Team

Funded! Next steps: Backerkit and Beyond
11 months ago – Mon, May 12, 2025 at 03:29:39 PM

Another successful Kickstarter thanks to all of you!

And as the last grains of sand in the hourglass fall, the Kickstarter campaign for Zaman’s Guide to the End of Time comes to an end. What a month it’s been! We must have triggered some sort of time dilation paradox, because it somehow felt like a year but also went by in a flash!

830k is no easy feat, especially during these uncertain times, and we want to once again thank YOU for making it all possible. Without your interest or support, none of this would’ve happened. Your feedback kept our writers on their toes, your compliments kept our artists motivated, and your questions kept our community managers INCREDIBLY busy.

The ball’s on our court now! We’re retreating into our chronomanticlab to extort the finished product from our future selves diligently write the rest of the book and get the beta test into your hands as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we’ve only figured out how to travel into the future at a rate of one second per second, so this will take a little while. Know that it’s because we’re trying our absolute best to deliver the most polished product we can!

Future Updates. For the next couple of months you can expect an update every two weeks or so. These will tell you about Backerkit surveys, new Beta test PDFs, and the like. After that, updates will come once every 4-6 weeks as we process feedback, get manufacturing samples, and go through the usual rigamarole of making a new product!

The Next Steps

It's going to take about 10 more days for Kickstarter to process all the payments and communicate with Backerkit! In approximately two weeks, you will receive an email where you can:

• Give us your shipping info
• Add any addons you like
• Raise your pledge level
• Upgrade your book covers from core to deluxe
• Add the artbook and slipcase 
• Confirm your desire to receive your free dice (if applicable)

Pledge Management.We'll have a more in depth 'How To' on pledge management closer to the time!

Addresses. Thinking you might move? Zaman's is expected to fulfil in Q3 of 2026. Closer to that time, we'll send out reminders asking you to update your addresses. Don't sweat it until then.

Zaman’s available for Pre-Order!

Missed the Kickstarter? No worries. We have a pre-order store on Backerkit, where folks who missed out the Kickstarter campaign can still pick it up! We're honouring all the prices/rewards/tiers on the Kickstarter page on the BackerKit pre-order store, so that those who found out about the project late or couldn't save up in time (please be financially responsible, this is just a game!) can get the same rewards.

Shipping and Taxes. Shipping and taxes will be charged once the project is close to fulfilling in around 18 months. For a breakdown of estimated shipping charges, consult this image. For taxes and duties, consult your government's information.

So Who’s Still Hungry for that Last Stretch Goal?

Ever had a meal you enjoyed so much you wanted to time travel and eat it all over again, paradoxes be damned? Well now you can. With folks already backing on Backerkit we figured you basically hit the Magical Meal stretch goal. Long story short: we will be adding 8 boss monster magical meals as craftable items to Cradle of the Chronowyrm!
 

Magical Meals. Crafted from the remains of the boss monster’s you defeat, boss monster magical meals enhance the cooking experience of Heliana’s Guide with new unique effects. Magical meals are like elixirs from Baldur’s Gate 3—their effects last a long time and you can only benefit from one meal at once. These are the perfect tool with which to prepare for your next fight, granting you a variety of modular effects!

If you have any questions you can reach us through our email, where I, ChefTinyT, will get back to you in no later than two business days. An even better way you can reach us is the #zamans-questions-answered channel of the Loot Tavern Discord Server, where answers are usually less than a day away.
 

ChefTinyT and the Team

The Sands of Time are Running Out! 72 Hours Remain!
11 months ago – Tue, May 06, 2025 at 07:50:36 AM

For the next course, two stretch goals!

We’ve been busy in the kitchen trying to keep up with how quickly you’ve been downing these stretch goals. Over the weekend, we knocked out TWO goals! Let’s see what the cards hold for us while they’re still hot in the plate:

650k - New Subrace: Elemental Dji!

Harnessing the primordial elements of the Imaginal Plane, Elemental Dji have an attunement to a specific element.  This is similar to how Cosmic Dji attune to an aspect of reality and Emotion Dji embody emotions! A question for you! What aspects of elements, reality, and emotions, might need to be combined to create a jinn-descendant nicknamed the Fire of Creation? Asking for a friend… we totally have the answer.

700k - Magic Item Cards - Timespun Treasures!

You unlocked MORE magic items! We’re adding 30 NEW items (~100 with rarity variants), inspired by Arabian, Egyptian and North African cultures to Zaman’s Guide! The additional deck of ~100 tarot-sized Cards is included in the Core, Deluxe, and All-In tiers.

Next Stretch Goal - 750k - New Subrace: Entomorph Locustkin!

Help us to help you fulfil your dream of playing a grunt of the Galactic Federation and get steamrolled by your favourite scientist and his grandson!

If we hit $750k before the campaign’s end, we unlock a second subspecies for the Entomorph race: Locustkin. What traits would you give a locust-themed insectoid race?

End of Kickstarter Stream!

The dream team is at it again to do one final stream for Zaman’s Guide. This Wednesday (May 7th), at 12 pm MST, we will be streaming on Loot Tavern's Youtube Channel. Ognjen Sporin will be working on more illustrations for the book, accompanied by our lead writer for Zaman’s Guide João Araújo and our creative director Mohammed Bellafquih. They will be there to both entertain the eyes with amazing art and to chat with you and maybe even answer some of your most burning questions!

Heliana-Compatible Project: Tome of Intangible Treasures II

Lone Colossus games funded their 4th campaign last week—a tome of 100 new monsters from whose harvested components you can conduct rituals to grant yourself over 300 boons and charms! We’ll let them tell it themselves:

Heliana Compatible. The Ritual system is compatible with the Crafting and Harvesting systems from Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting. Do more than enchant items and cook magical meals with this supplement for 5e. We’re super excited to see independent writers embracing Heliana’s mechanics—it gives all you monster hunters more bang for your buck! Check them out here.

Thanks again,

ChefTinyT and the LT team 

What a Sticky Situation! More City Map Stickers Unlocked!
11 months ago – Mon, Apr 28, 2025 at 01:03:12 PM

Keep “Peeling” away these stretch goals!

Sticking with you guys has been a wild ride, as we have downed yet another stretch goal! Lets see what’s on the menu for what you’ve earned and how we can move onto our next course!

600k - More Stickers!

Looks like tonight's hors d'oeuvres are a batch of extra City Stickers for the Kasbat Azzaman map! Served with a side of stickiness as well as a glaze of amazing art for both physical and digital backers, you can start light or go heavy with these additional stickers that can be used to personalise the city map and cause it to change with the player's actions. 

So what side dish will you order à la carte for this next stretch goal? 650k - Elemental Dji!

So you’ve already got Cosmic and Emotion Dji, but who’s gonna complain about a third Dji subrace? You’ll be able to manifest the power of the elements with this new option for the half-jinn species, the Elemental Dji! 

Though she's not an Elemental Dji, our favourite blacksmith Zakya is a Jinn all too familiar with the subspecies! Maybe they are related? Who can tell!

PROJECTS WE LOVE: SCEPTER OF THE LIGHTBRINGER

Scepter of the Lightbringer is a 700+ page D&D 5e campaign, live now on Kickstarter, blending urban investigation with sandbox exploration. As a supernatural heatwave sparks chaos across the city of Drayl, players are drawn into a deadly struggle between a vampire-led underworld and the fanatical cultists of a fallen theocracy. 

The massive world features three richly developed cities, hundreds of NPCs, encounters, and locations, plus new urban-themed dungeons, monsters, items, poisons, tools, subclasses, feats, and spells. It’s fully written, edited, and ready for quick fulfillment—including VTT support for Roll20 and FoundryVTT, free downloads, and an Elderbrain Soundscapes app. 

This Elemental Dji has been a huge help in the kitchen! With the power of elemental fire keeping the broiler hot and you guys keeping the orders fresh we are moving right along to the next stretch goal! 

ChefTinyT and the Loot Tavern team signing off!

The Disciple of Celerity has been Unleashed!
12 months ago – Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 07:37:57 PM

Another Stretch Goal Down!

We keep putting new stretch goals up, and with great celerity—pun very much intended—you guys keep knocking them down! This has officially allowed the Disciple of Celerity Bender to join the already expansive array of subclasses in Zaman’s Guide, so now it’s time to wonder what they do and see what other stretch goals await across the horizon!

Just like the Tamer class, the full Bender class will be included in the book in the form of a QR code leading you to a free version of the class, as well as one free subclass, while the Disciple of Celerity will be printed inside the book!

550k - Bender: Disciple of Celerity

Sure, throwing stars are cool. But throwing stars imbued with the raw power of primordial fire are COOLER. This Bender subclass is a master of thrown combat, augmenting their weapons with elemental motes so that they can be manipulated mid-air! Strike fast, strike hard, and strike safely from afar.

So which stretch goal is next on the list? 600k - More Stickers!

Who doesn’t love a bunch of stickers? Well how about even more stickers than that? If you can “stick it” to this next stretch goal, we can add even more!

These additional stickers can be used to personalise the city map and cause it to change with the player's actions.

So we were going to Stream April 17 at 9 AM PDT

After all the fun we had with you guys on stream, we had planned a second stream on April 17th, at 9:00 AM PDT! However, one of our cast members got hit by a Contagion spell and we were forced to postpone it! Hopefully they pass all three saves against the spell so we can schedule a new date for the stream very soon!

To know when we plan to go live, you can join our Discord server, or if you subscribe to our Youtube Channel, you’ll get a notification there as well!

Our Youtube channel also includes a lot of extra content besides our streams, like our Monster Wheel shorts that show a timelapse of the drawings we’ve made for our most recent batch of Monster Hunter fusions, or the adorable Mushie Poisson Steve clip!

Projects We Love: Fen’s Guide to Myriad Realms

Embark on a wild new journey with Fen's Guide to Myriad Realms, a fully illustrated 5e-compatible tome packed with original content from 85+ real-world creators. This 170-page supplement includes:

• 4 evocative micro-settings
• 9+ new classes & subclasses
• 12 playable species
• 18+ terrifying monsters
• 16 NPCs
• Items, spells, and more!

Filled to the brim with breathtaking art and compelling writing, Fen's Guide offers modular options you can drop into any campaign or one-shot. From elemental sun-born warriors to nightmare-haunting memory keepers, each entry brings fresh depth to your table. Take Fen's hand. Step into Myriad Realms. Adventure awaits!

Sounds like another order is up in the kitchen. I’ve got to go handle that, however I will be back with you all soon to take your next set of orders for this amazing Kickstarter.

ChefTinyT and the Loot Tavern team