Heliana & Ryoko's Guide to Mythozoology

We Did It!! Biggest 5e Kickstarter of All Time! Important Next Steps!
1 day ago – Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 01:40:17 PM

We Did It!!

WOW!! We just made history - Mythozoology closes as the most funded D&D Kickstarter of all time, and that makes this page the first Kickstarter page ever to hold the record of biggest of all time TWICE. You are amazing, we had an absolutely unbelievable close, finishing up at $4,360,539, smashing our previous P.B. by over $1,000,000!!

Every Stretch Goal Unlocked!

We got 'em all, folks! Even our stretchiest of stretch goals was smashed completely. That means EVERYONE here gets free access to the alpha PDF of our next book (lawd, I guess we're doing all this again one day) AND we've unlocked custom character sheets for your games (one for every class AND Tamer familiars), designed by Emmet Byme of Old Oak Games.

And of course, there's the DOG EXPLOSION! Three new Inukin subspecies added to Ryoko's Forbidden Myths, giving each core book three unique Inukin subspecies to play with! Let's wag tails and depose tyrants - good boy!

The Pre-Order Backerkit Page is Now Open, But Kickstarter Backers Can Chill For The Moment!

Mythozoology has now moved from Kickstarter to Backerkit! If you missed the campaign, you can still grab the various tiers and add-ons at discounted prices there. However, if you backed on Kickstarter, don't grab anything from the Backerkit pre-order page just yet! Backerkit is in the process of shifting your Kickstarter pledges to their system, and you'll be able to grab any add-ons or extras when the Backerkit Surverys come out in about a month. Those are the surveys where you add your shipping information, as well as claim any free dice you've unlocked, upgrade your core book covers to deluxe covers, etc. 

We'll provide detailed instructions on how to do all that when the time comes. If you've already grabbed stuff on Backerkit, don't worry! Just send us a message AFTER the Backerkit surveys are out and we can consolidate your order, I'll include a reminder about this when the surveys go out.

The Immediate Timeline

As soon as payments clear on Backerkit, we can start the Playtest portion of the campaign. This is where we send out beta-versions of all the material for you to use in your games, and then leave feedback we can use to improve and finalise the books before we send them to be printed. We anticipate orders to clear on Backerkit in late June, although if you're using Kickstarter's Pay-Over-Time feature, your order will clear a little later, in July. When your order clears, you'll be able to access to the beta playtest documents for any of the material you have backed, as it is released.

Due to the volume of material in Mythozoology, we won't be dropping everything all at once - we're going to release the beta in waves. We're starting with the material that needs the most time to playtest - Player Options. That way, as you play through the material that drops in waves across 2026 in your home games, you can be simultaneously exploring all the subclasses, species, and new Maker class across the length of a full campaign!

Future Updates

We'll keep you updated here regularly, usually around one update each month while rolling out the playtest, and after that process is finalised, an update when significant milestones are reached, such as releasing the final PDFs for you to download, completing physical production, and getting final delivery dates and tracking numbers, etc. That said, the best place to receive up to date information is on the Loot Tavern discord server.You can ask any questions and get the latest news in real time there from the entire team!

The Big Comeback!

Mythozoology marks a huge comeback for indie publishing on Kickstarter, after a slower few years. I'm certain that many independant publishers are watching with grattitude and excitement at all that you have made possible here. This year is going to be MASSIVE for third party creators, with many incredible projects coming soon. Thank you for supporting independant, human-driven projects and artists! Be they giant influencers in the space, or smaller auteurs just breaking out, we hope you continue to support others in this wonderful community!

Now let's all bask in being the biggest Kickstarter of all time, a record we will surely hold for a very long time... right? (glances over at Neon Odyssey👀)

Thank you for your incredible support! The journey is not over yet, we're working hard to get everything to you as fast as we can, and remember you can always reach out to us on the Loot Tavern Discord server.

• Will and the Team

Final 24 Hours! Physical Tokens Unlocked and The FINAL Stretch Goal!
3 days ago – Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 11:16:23 AM

Stretch Goals Unlocked!

We're in the home stretch everybody, and we've come a LONG WAY - since the last update we've unlocked some badass Physical Tokens! These are punch-out, top-down cardboard tokens featuring Venatus' awesome artwork for EVERY boss monster and their minions from EVERY adventure across both Forgotten Monsters and Forbidden Myths! They've been added to the Deluxe Box and All-In Tiers, and are also available as an add-on if you want to grab them directly!

We've also unlocked incredible music for your campaign! A bespoke original song from Cacophonics the bard for every adventure in Heliana's Forgotten Monsters, and original, layered ambient and combat music to heighten the immersion and intesity of every adventure in Ryoko's Forbidden Myths. The awesome new Mechanist Tamer Subclass enters Heliana's Forgotten Monsters as well! But there's still more to look forward to...

The Road to $4,000,000 (and Making History??)

We don't want to jinx anything, but depending on how the final 24 hours go, we *might* end the campaign as the BIGGEST 5e Kickstarter of ALL TIME. We held the record once before with Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms, and we're less than $200,000 away away from reclaiming it! As a special celebration if we reach $4,000,000, we're pledging to give every single backer on this project FREE access to the alpha PDF for our next project - may our adventures never end! No matter where we land in at the close of the campaign, however, we are honoured to be here with you as a part of something truly amazing, and we could even be on track to make history as a community once again!

What Comes Next?

Mythozoology closes at 8pm BST on Thursday 16th April, about 24 hours from now! The day after the campaign closes (Friday 17th), I'll post an update going over everything we've unlocked and explaining what comes next. We use Backerkit as our Pledge Manager, so we'll give very clear and detailed instructions on how to manage your pledge in Backerkit when the time comes.

The Pledge Management stage constitutes a quick survey where you add your Shipping Information, grab any add-ons, upgrade your book covers to the Deluxe versions, confirm any Free Dice you've unlocked, etc. There's usually some quiet after the storm of Kickstarter while we sort everything, so it'll be about a month before the Backerkit surveys go out. We'll include detailed instructions nearer the time (with screenshots) to make it really easy to follow. I'll explain more in the quick wrap-up update on Friday, but for now it's onward to the finish line!

As always, we're here to support if you need us or just want to hang out! Head on over to the Loot Tavern Discord serverto catch us in real time! Now let's land this kaiju-sized campaign!

• Will and the Team

DOUBLE Stretch Goals, Summoning Mechanics Revealed, and Even More Dice!
9 days ago – Thu, Apr 09, 2026 at 10:54:42 AM

The Final Week of Mythozoology!

Okay, y'all are CRUSHING the Stretch Goals right now! As of today, we're also officially into the Final Week of Mythozoology on Kickstarter 🥳 First things first, we've passed $2,700,000 raised, which means...

New Stretch Goal UNLOCKED - Free Mythstery Dice!

As a reminder, everyone who has backed any physical tier (including the Heliana's and Ryoko's Core Tiers) OR who has both Forgotten Monsters and Forbidden Myths physical books in their basket when the campaign ends will receive the free dice set! 

There are 12 different sets in total, and you'll recieve one randomised "mythstery" set with your order for free. Additional dice sets are now available as add-ons in Kickstarter too! We have a single Dice Set add on, or a 5 Set Dice add on with a discount for the Dice Goblins among us!

Bonus Stretch Goal! Expansion to the Companion Compendium!

With free dice locked in, we need to talk about what's coming next! At $2,900,000 we unlock an expansion to the Companion Compendium! Hitting this stretch goal will give a MASSIVE expansion to the book, and result in the ultimate, one-stop-shop for all familiar-befriending heroes and Tamers out there.

We’re now adding companions from previous works, all updated to 2024 wording (with 2014 sidebars), AND all the errata for a total of FIFTY bespoke familiars, all with unique improvement trees. That’s the brand-new 16 familiars we had planned for the book plus 34 more, giving you everything you need in one convenient tome!

NOTE: These companions are totally separate from the 16 new familiars we’re crafting for Forgotten Monsters and Forbidden Myths. We don't want to spoil the adventures by showing your players the creatures they can make, or repeat content across Mythozoology books.

The Big $3,000,000 - A Double Stretch Goal

At the rate we're accelerating, we might just hit $3,000,000 before the final 48 hours! Our $3,000,000 Stretch Goal is a Double Feature. Firstly, we unlock The Vault! The Vault is a database of all the items, spells, and monsters from anything in the Mythozoology PDFs that you own, configured for effortless access, whether you play physically or digitally! If you ever need to quick grab a bonus stat block or double check a spell, the Vault lets you do it in seconds, rather than scrolling through your ~1000+ pages of content. It's basically a digital Bag of Holding!

We've also now raised enough money to partner up again with Theatre of the Unaligned to dive deeper into the history and lore behind Mythozoology in a ~3 minute animated mini-adventure featuring Ryoko and Heliana! We have more stretch goals incoming for our final few days as we continue to grow, any Tamers in the house??? 👀

Kaiju Summoning Mechanics - Early Playtest Release!

With all this talk of upcoming content, it's easy to forget we've already written a huge chunk of Mythozoology, ready for playtesting. Although the official playtest will begin soon after orders clear in Backerkit, we wanted to share a Lite-Playtest version of the Kaiju Summoning System from Ryoko's Forbidden Myths!It's out in the Free Playtest Materials section on the Kickstarter page so you can use them in your games right now!

Please note that these are the first, playtest draft of the mechanics, and will be expanded on significantly in the final book with the inclusion of all the kaiju and the Emissary Summons, and in response to your feedback! For those who keep eyes on the DnD Shorts YouTube channel, there will a video coming out before the close of the campaign diving into these mechanics and some of the design choices behind them, if you're interested in learning more!

Projects We Love - The Sick Children's Trust

We're honoured to be partnering up with The Sick Children's Trust to raise money to support newborn babies in critical care and their families. The Sick Children's Trust offers vital care for families undergoing some of the hardest times imaginable, granting free accomodation and support so families can be with their children as they undergo critical medical care. The DnD Shorts YouTube channel is proudly donating 50% of all YouTube earnings from the last 4 months to The Sick Children's Trust. If you have even a few dollars you can spare to be one of the people who fights for and protects children, please click this link and make to make a donation, which is in aid of new "Home from Home" being built beside Bradford hospital to be used to keep families together as their children recieve lifesaving medical care.

Final Week Celebrations

We're still here if you have any questions, need support, or just want to join the party as we celebrate the final week of Mythozoology on Kickstarter! You can catch us at the Loot Tavern discord server. Smaller, more regular updates are posted there too.

• Will and the Team

$2.6 Million Crushed! New Subclasses Unlocked & a Word on D&D Beyond
16 days ago – Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 01:34:40 PM

WOW! We just hit 2.6 million raised, and over 10,000 backers too - all with half the campaign still left to go. We're absolutely flabbergasted, so we're adding some really special stretch goals! With that in mind...

New Stretch Goal Unveiled - FREE "Mythstery" Dice!

Not in our wildest dreams did we think we'd reach this far, so we wanted to do something BIG to reward your incredible support. Our stretch goal for $2,700,000 is a FREE monster-hunting mystery dice set for everyone who's pledge includes the two physical Core Books - Ryoko's Forbidden Myths and Heliana's Forgotten Monsters. Anyone who is part of either the Heliana or Ryoko's Core Tier will also recieve them. That means everyone in the "Dual Book" tier and any physical tier above, and anyone who's order includes both Forgotten Monsters and Forbidden Myths as add ons (e.g. if you backed at the Digital Deluxe tier but added the physical core books).

Each of the boss monsters from Heliana 1 gets its own set of dice! The mechkoboldzilla is rust orange with mechanical cogs, the pygmy rakshasa draws from the malachite and gold of its Arabic inspiration, and there are even two versions of the magnetite dragon: deep blues and reds for the wyrmling and a muted, matte version for the ancient version!

There are 12 different sets in total, and you'll recieve one randomised "mythstery" set with your order for free if you have Forgotten Monsters and Forbidden Myths in your basket by the time the campaign ends. Additional mystery dice sets will be available as add-ons in Kickstarter and Backerkit, with discount bundles for any Dice Goblins out there! Gotta catch 'em all! 

New Subclasses Unlocked!

Since our last update, we've unlocked hardback covers for the Companion Compenium and Mech Manual, with new content added to each book on top! PLUS a new Gunner subclass. That's the class introduced in Zaman's Guide to the End of Time, and the subclass will come with a hotlinked PDF to the core class rules and mechanics alongside it, letting you enjoy the subclass without having to pull out your copy of Zaman's Guide!

As of today, we've also smashed the $2.6 million stretch goal and unlocked a new Element Bender subclass - Disciple of Ascension! Draw your elemental power from the heavens; from lonely, frozen planets to blazing, newborn stars. The Bender core class will also now be added to Ryoko's Forbidden Myths as a hotlinked PDF!

FAQ - Mythozoology D&D Beyond?

Lots of folks have been asking "will Mythozoology ever appear on D&D Beyond?" We do hope that Forgotten Monsters and/or Forbidden Myths will be picked up by D&D Beyond, but this is entirely their choice!

If you would like to see these books on the platform, please feel free to submit a request to their team by using the following link and asking for the "Mythozoology kickstarter by Loot Tavern to be considered for ingestion". Please use this wording, so their community support team can easily see all the requests are for the same project!

Here's the link: https://dndbeyond-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=225303

As always, you can join the celebrations and get swift answers and support if you need anything, over at the Loot Tavern discord server. Smaller, more regular updates are posted there too!

Projects We Love - Oracle RPG - Monster Mania

Monster Mania is a badass Kickstarter campaign launching the new Marketplace inside the Human-First Oracle RPG app. This Marketplace brings together monster books from leading 5E publishers into one powerful campaign-building platform, and we are proudly among the first featured publishers!

Oracle RPG is a campaign-building platform powered by years of content generators and RPG tools from Nord Games. The new Marketplace allows Dungeon Masters to bring content from multiple top publishers into one seamless system. With this integration, our monsters from Ryoko's 1, Heliana's 1, Steinhardt's Guide, and Voidsea can all be organized, deployed, and combined faster than ever before!

If you love building rich worlds and unforgettable encounters, this is a major evolution in how you can use our content. One app, endless encounters, no AI. Check it out here!

You are awesome! Have a great weekend everyone!

• Will and the Team

You Asked For It! New "Book Tier" Unlocked and Fresh Stretch Goal Uncovered!
29 days ago – Fri, Mar 20, 2026 at 10:56:33 AM

Octo-Book Tier Drop!

Y'all came through STRONG with the desire for a book-only tier including all the D&D-material-focused hardcovers we're making, so we've just activated it! This is the Octo-Book Tier, it contains:

• Heliana's Forgotten Monsters
• Ryoko's Forbidden Myths
• The Monster Hunter's Codex
• The Yokai Slayer's Codex
• The Companion Compendium
• The Mech Manual
• Mushy's Scrapbook of Scholarly Secrets
• Onimushy's Scrapbook of Stolen Stories

This tier is only the books and PDFs - just the core content, enough to make even the sturdiest of bookshelves sweat! Of course, if you'd like the Art Books too, you can grab them as add-ons to this tier, or take a look at the Limited Edition Deluxe Tier which includes all 10 books and a ton of killer dice, handouts, cards, and loads more!

The Secret "Hex Book" Tier

The second most suggested tier was a "Hex Book Tier", featuring either the two Mushy Scrapbooks or the Mech Manual and Companion Compendium. No matter what configuration of books you like, don't fret, it can still be done! The most cost efficient way to grab a book-only package without going into the Octo Tier is to grab the Quad Book tier, and then get any extra hardcovers as add-ons on an ad hoc basis. This way you can easily build a 5-7 book package with whatever combination of hardcovers you're hankering for! 

As a reminder, we've posted a breakdown of the contents of each book on the Kickstarter page, as well as in the previous update, and in the FAQs, so you can see exactly what is in each hardcover if you'd like to take a deeper dive!

The Crystal Myth Countdown!

We're entering the final day to grab the early backer Crystal Myth dice set! If you back before Sunday (Pacific Time) and have at least one physical product, you'll get your free Crystal Myth dice set. Here are the exact criteria:

• Back before 00:00 am Sunday PST.
• Have at least one physical item in your basket/tier when the campaign ends.

That means backing any physical tier, or going for the add-on tier and adding a physical addon all work. Even a $1 pledge now will "reserve" your spot so that, if you add a physical add-on before the campaign's end, you'll fulfill the criteria. The cheapest physical addons are the handouts at $15, y'know... if you're just looking for a way to get dice for a discount.

New Stretch Goal Unlocked!!

Since just yesterday, we've unlocked the terrifying Mechakoboldzilla playable mech AND the mysterious "13th Zodiac Cat Dragon" stretch goals! If you're familiar with the Zodiac myth, you'll know why the cat didn't form part of the 12 (and maybe why cats and rats don't get along so well)! If not, you can discover the story as we journey together to find this mythical, lost dragon!

And that's not all! Not content with giving all the GMs out there a new dragon to terrorize players with, the $1.8 million stretch goal introduces Game Master Cheat Sheets for both Heliana and Ryoko's adventures added for free to their respective core boxes, and to every tier above!

Project We Love - Kibbles' Compendium of Airships and Artifacts

3rd-Party Content KING Kibbles Tasty is also running an amazing campaign! Kibbles’ Compendium of Airships and Artifacts has two new classes (Paragon and Summoner), 30+ subclasses, feats, spells, as well as new rules for Modular Crafting (crafting that is based on modifiers to build magical items—and special artifacts that you can improve as you level—from scratch). Plus rules for building, upgrading, staffing, and fighting in airships. It has custom roles for players to keep them engaged in airborne combat, tons of new airship templates and upgrades to discover, and enemies to encounter! Check it out here!!

We're here to help!

We're really grateful for the unbelievable support and kindness you've shown this project so far, and for the feedback in implementing this new tier! As always, if you need anything, please reach out to us over at the Loot Tavern discord server, where we hang out as a community and can answer any questions! 

You are awesome, thanks once again for all the incredible support over our first 72 hours!

• Will and the Team