Grim tales inspired by Balkan & Slavic folklore, for D&D 5e, D&D 2024, and the Legend in the Mist RPG.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
48 Hours Left! | The Tale of the Bogatyr and the Sluagh
12 months ago
– Tue, Apr 01, 2025 at 09:09:56 AM
A TALE OF BLOOD AND IRON
The mist seeped through Vetrenaya like ghostly fingers, bringing with it an unnatural cold that gripped the hearts of its restless denizens. Janek, an honest, rugged man and Vetrenaya’s lone blacksmith, stood at the edge of the settlement; hammer over his shoulder, a flickering torch in his hand. He could sense that something evil was creeping in the deep dark of night, a peril unfamiliar to the lands of Zamanora. This newfound threat was emerging from beyond the sacred woods, or even the Veil itself. Word of spectral horrors befalling nearby settlements had already reached his ears: deathless ravagers, drunk on the souls of fallen warriors, leaving behind naught but empty husks.
As the mist thickened, shapes began to manifest — twisted and ethereal forms, once resembling mortal folk, now stirred to unlife by unholy powers. The horde was standing at the threshold, ready to collapse upon Vetrenaya and snuff its life out. They were the Sluagh and, from within their midst, a towering specter emerged, eyes that burned with cobalt hunger, bearing an axe drenched in rust — an old weapon, much like Janek himself. The monster growled, its voice like a dirge through a graveyard.
Janek tightened his grip on his hammer, and planted his feet firmly in the soil that birthed him. He was Bogatyr: regardless of the foe that stood before him, he would not back down. "Turn back," he said, as if replying to the monster’s bitter call, despite the fear that was crawling under his skin.
In a cacophony of maddening laughter, like nails against cold hard stone, the swarm of the undead rejected his courage. If there was any hope to be found in Vetrenaya come dawn, it would have to be earned by blood and iron. “So be it,” he whispered, more to himself than to the enemy, as he dropped his torch to the ground. A ring of fire suddenly ignited around them, lighting up the night, as Janek’s torch ate through the oil that was poured on the ground, revealing the true heart of Vetrenaya. Men and women rose from behind Janek, armed with pitchforks, scythes, and sickles. This was not to be a battle for glory, but one of survival instead, as the Zamanori would measure their mettle against the nightmarish horde of the Sluagh.
COLLABORATION WITH BEYOND THE WOODS!
This little tale of courage and adversity was a collaborative work between us, at the Eren Chronicles and the Old Oak Games. These talented creators were inspired to create the Sluagh, as well as countless more tales and creatures that stem from Irish mythology! By pitting it against our brave Bogatyr, we wished to present to our community how our two projects — ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch and Beyond the Woods — share many similarities:
Both are Lite settings, which a storyteller could apply as neighbouring realms.
They are inspired by European folklore.
Both supplements showcase a wide array of monsters and character options that promise to add new depth to your campaigns.
And are compatible with D&D 2024.
If you want to support our friends, you can do so by following this link!
⏳ ONWARDS TO THE FINISH LINE
It feels like yesterday that we took a leap of faith and went live with our project!As the curtains draw to a close, we wanted to take a moment to highlight what we can still accomplish by the end of the campaign.
A few days ago, we revealed all of our Stretch Goals! We’ve already smashed one of them and we are very close to reaching two more! Take a look here 👇
250,000€ - Backgrounds Chapter: A new chapter is revealed! Introducing 7 new Backgrounds to aid you in fleshing out your Zamanori adventurers and 3 Epic Backgrounds, like the legendary Drangue available in the Core Book!
275,000€ - Lair Battlemaps: We will collaborate with an expert map illustrator to design 4 Gridded Battlemaps, one for each of the most iconic villainous figures in ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch. The digital versions of the maps will be added for free in the All Digital, Deluxe Box and Collector’s Box pledge tiers, or as a standalone add on.
300,000€ - Community Build: Let’s build a concept together, from the ground up! We will work together with all of our backers to design a Subclass or Monster. This choice, as well as the build’s details, will be decided through a series of polls and thorough communication through our Discord server. The final result will be added to the Core Book or the Monsters & Fables book, respectively!
325,000€ - New Class: Molfar: A new, venerated hero joins the legacy of Zamanora! Introducing the Molfar, a shamanic spiritualist who acts as Wise One to their community, along with 3 Subclasses to embody their different vocations in the Core Book.
350,000€ - ZAMANORA Expansion: The support shown to this project has truly been astounding. You have grown to love this world, as soon as it began springing to life. For this, we shall humbly pledge to you that the next project we invest ourselves in as The Eren Chronicles will be related to the setting of Zamanora, expanding it even further. Sky's the limit!
BACKER MILESTONE GOALS
2,500 Backers - More Adventure Locales: From the cold mountain ridges to the verdant prairies, new settlements are being erected! 3 new Adventure Locales are added to the Monsters & Fables book, each with its own diverse array of NPCs and captivating tales.
3,000 Backers - Alchemy VTT Support: Both books in a ready-to-play format for Alchemy VTT! With integrated character options, stat blocks, fully formatted lore for D&D and Legend in the Mist! Available for free with the All Digital, Deluxe Box and Collector’s Box pledge tiers, or as its standalone add-on!
🤝 FOLLOW US
If you like our projects, you may as well like us! While we try to keep our Kickstarter updated as soon as we have news to share, we are even more active on our social media.
You can follow us on the links below to stay tuned about everything regarding Zamanora, and gain access to the numerous gifts we offer to all our Newsletter subscribers!
One More Stretch Goal Down, Five Left! 👏
about 1 year ago
– Sun, Mar 30, 2025 at 07:19:11 AM
Salutations, warriors!
One more Stretch Goal is added to our streak, as we are approaching the final days of this campaign! Let's take a look at what we will be adding in Zamanora this time…
As the darkness grows thicker and all hope seems lost, do not falter; you shan’t stand alone against the gloom.
225,000€ - Three Additional Subclasses: Fresh faces gather around the hearth. The Veilscarred Barbarian, Journey Domain Cleric and Paladin, Oath of the Firebird are unlocked for the Core book!
With those, the Core Book now includes over 20 Character Options!
🔒 NEXT STRETCH GOAL: NEW BACKGROUNDS
A character’s Background is their origin story, the events that shaped them into who they are, impacting their future as much as they choices they are bound to make thereafter.
250,000€ - Backgrounds Chapter: A new chapter is revealed! Introducing 7 new Backgrounds to aid you in fleshing out your Zamanori adventurers and 3 Epic Backgrounds, like the legendary Drangue, to be added to the Core Book!
Can we unlock our next goal before the campaign is over? Only 4 days left!
🎤MISSED OUR LIVE Q&A?
A few days ago, we had our first Live Q&A Session for ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch on our Discord server! We addressed many great questions, and it was so exciting to finally discuss our project with you in such an interactive setting! If you missed it, check the YouTube video above to learn more about what Zamanora is all about.
Want to join our next session? Then be sure to come over on our Discord server to receive notifications for all upcoming Q&As and additional events!
🤝 FOLLOW US
If you like our projects, you may as well like us! While we try to keep our Kickstarter updated as soon as we have news to share, we are even more active on our social media.
You can follow us on the links below to stay tuned about everything regarding Zamanora, and gain access to the numerous gifts we offer to all our Newsletter subscribers!
All Stretch Goals: Revealed!🍃
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Mar 27, 2025 at 08:07:47 AM
Greetings, trailblazers!
There is less than one week left until the end of the campaign! To celebrate, we are spreading the mists to reveal the path which lies ahead for this campaign of ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch. In this update, we shall present to you each and every Stretch Goal that has not yet been unlocked, giving you a clearer picture on what to expect — and what to hope for. Without further ado…
🎯FUTURE STRETCH GOALS
A Stretch Goal is an upgrade to the campaign’s content or product quality, which becomes possible through reaching certain increments in the funding, beyond what was initially expected. Every Stretch Goal we unlock becomes automatically added to its corresponding Pledge Tiers, at no additional cost to the backers that have selected them!
FUNDING GOALS
Below, you will find a list of all Stretch Goals that we currently have in store for you, from the campaign’s current state to the realistic heights we believe it can reach before it’s through.
225,000€ - 3 Additional Subclasses: Fresh faces gather around the hearth. The Veilscarred Barbarian, Journey Domain Cleric and Paladin, Oath of the Firebird are unlocked for the Core book!
250,000€ - Backgrounds Chapter: A new chapter is revealed! Introducing 7 new backgrounds to aid you in fleshing out your Zamanori adventurers and 3 epic backgrounds like the legendary Drangue available in the Core Book!
275,000€ - Lair Battlemaps: We will collaborate with an expert map illustrator to design 4 Gridded Battlemaps, one for each of the most iconic villainous figures in ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch.The digital versions of the maps will be added for free in the All Digital, Deluxe Box and Collector’s Box pledge tiers.
300,000€ - Community Build: Let’s build a concept together, from the ground up! We will work together with all of our backers to design a Subclass or Monster. This choice, as well as the build’s details, will be decided through a series of polls and thorough communication through our Discord server. The final result will be added to the Core Book or Monsters & Fables book, respectively!
325,000€ - New Class: Molfar: A new, venerated hero joins the legacy of Zamanora! Introducing the Molfar, a shamanic spiritualist who acts as Wise One to their community, along with 3 Subclasses to embody their different vocations in the Core Book.
350,000€ - ZAMANORA Expansion: The support shown to this project has truly been astounding. You have grown to love this world, as soon as it began springing to life. For this, we shall humbly pledge to you that the next project we invest ourselves in as The Eren Chronicles will be related to the setting of Zamanora, expanding it even further. Sky's the limit!
BACKER MILESTONE GOALS
Just like when we unveiled our Secret Stretch Goal once we reached 2,000 Backers, we thought it proper to celebrate the campaign’s immense success by planning two more such goals. The following Stretch Goals shall be unlocked based upon reaching certain milestones in the total number of campaign backers.
2,500 Backers - More Adventure Locales: From the cold mountain ridges to the verdant prairies, new settlements are being erected! 3 new Adventure Locales are added to the Monsters & Fables book, each with its own diverse array of NPCs and captivating tales.
3,000 Backers - Alchemy VTT Support: Both books in a ready-to-play format for Alchemy VTT! With integrated character options, stat blocks, fully formatted lore for D&D and Legend in the Mist! Available for free with the All Digital, Deluxe Box and Collector’s Box pledge levels, or as its standalone add-on!
🌱HELP US GROW
There are numerous ways in which you can aid us in turning this campaign into the best it can be, and increase the number of Stretch Goals it achieves. Pledging for our Backer Rewards is definitely one of the most impactful ways, but it is not the only one.
If you have already backed the campaign, or if you cannot back it but still want to see the project unlock more Stretch Goals, you can share it with your friends! For that reason, we have prepared a short media kit of images, reels and texts that you can use to communicate the best parts of ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch. Of course, feel free to use your own words, screenshots, smoke signals, messenger crows or whatever you believe will excite your friends! After all, you know them better than we do 🙂
Another way would be to add your friends to our Discord server, and see that our community grows even more vibrant. This will grant us access to community feedback that will most definitely prove invaluable throughout the process of drafting, editing and finalizing the books’ contents.
🤝 FOLLOW US
If you like our projects, you may as well like us! While we try to keep our Kickstarter updated as soon as we have news to share, we are even more active on our social media.
You can follow us on the links below to stay tuned about everything regarding Zamanora, and gain access to the numerous gifts we offer to all our Newsletter subscribers!
Lore of Zamanora: Worlds Upon Worlds 🌍
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 24, 2025 at 11:16:29 AM
Greetings, wayfarers!
Today, we are going to delve into an important part of the Zamanoran lore, one that acts as a cornerstone for its entire setting. The concept of overlapping worlds, co-existing with one another, separated only by the folkloric beliefs of the local folk, as well as superstition and understanding of them. Let’s get to it then…
WORLDS UPON WORLDS
Beautiful as the mist-tipped mountains and the playful creeks of Zamanora are, there is almost always more there than meets the eye. Secrets in the soil, spirits in the winds, a city in a tree hollow, an entire world hidden within an acorn await those with the occult knowledge, and skill, to discover them. The Zamanori use the terms that follow to represent and separate these disparate aspects of the world that surrounds them, insofar as they can agree in their shared perception of it.
THE REAL
The Real is a term commonly used to refer to the material world and its native creatures. This merely encompasses only what the Zamanori can understand and know to be real; that which can be experienced by the perception of their senses, whether seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted. In other words, it is all those things they interact with, in their daily lives.
For example, the Real includes the annual cycle, natural phenomena such as a rockslide or the weather changing with the seasons, the wilderness, the wind rustling the leaves, the beasts and monsters that hunt or scavenge for their food, the humanoid societies that dot the realm, one’s self, friends, neighbors and family.
THE HIDDEN WORLD
Intersecting with the Real, yet obfuscated from the untrained eye by a thin veil of secrecy, lies another world. This Hidden World encapsulates everything the Zamanori believe in, yet do not fully comprehend. It is the world of spirits and magic, of all things deemed supernatural and otherworldly by the common folk. Its many wonders constantly challenge rational thought and, at the same time, pose opportunity and danger beyond imagination. The Hidden World is not another plane of existence in itself, but rather an aspect of reality that lies just beyond the horizon of one’s own mettle and acumen.
Zamanoran folklore revolves greatly around the Hidden World and its primal denizens, the spirits, which the people traditionally implore for guidance and aid at times of need, or worship and adulate to appease their anger. Though the actions of spiritual entities can usually be felt but rarely determined with certainty, it is the core belief the Zamanori hold in the spirit world and its ways that breathes life into it, rather than proof or verified knowledge. Therefore, the very existence of the Hidden World hangs upon a sole condition: mortals must believe in it, without ever truly knowing about it.
For example, the Hidden world includes spirits of the woods, itinerant souls, living manifestations of the natural forces, passages through the roots of trees or the clouds in the sky, the voices coming from the brook, a hexer’s curse, a spouse’s warding prayer, a god’s blessing, or fortune’s favor.
THE OLD WORLD
Due to the oral tradition the Zamanori have in perpetuating their lore, the ancestral origins and history of their kind have been lost to the eons, preserved only in vague retellings and obscure rhymes. Whoever came before them, no form of record, text, or codex that sheds light on these past ages has managed to survive the ordeal of time. Because of this, the folk have taken to including all that which has been forgotten, or is thought to be extinct from the Real, into a broad term: the Old World.
The Old World comprises everything the Zamanori folk widely believe might have once been real, but no longer exists at present, as well as those stories whose veracity can hardly be verified or believed, but claim to be true of a world much different from the past. Some studied folk claim that the Old World hearkens to a time when Real and Hidden were one, before the veil was drawn between them, and that is why the tales surrounding it sound so fantastical to contemporary ears. From world-altering events to legendary monsters, great civilizations, and impossible deeds, whether a piece of a bygone era or a figment of imagination in the first place; all that has served and embodied the Old Ways has slowly succumbed to lethe and passed into oblivion. There are those few, however, who seek to discover what lies in the labyrinthine corridors of the unknown past, despite the risk of stumbling upon things that should best remain forlorn.
For example, the Old World includes the mythical dragons, dead or forsaken deities of ancient times, tales of grand heroes and mages, rumors of cursed ruins, as well as the origins of the Zamanori people and their true history.
TALKING WITH WORLD ANVIL
A few days ago, we were invited to discuss worldbuilding with the wonderful people of World Anvil on their stream!
Especially worldbuilding inspired by Balkan & Slavic folklore.
What's the difference between Epic and Rustic fantasy? How do you write stories based on Slavic folklore for a contemporary audience? Are there Kings, Queens and Emperors in such a world?
You can find answers for the above and even more by watching this broadcast!
🤝 FOLLOW US
If you like our projects, you may as well like us! While we try to keep our Kickstarter updated as soon as we have news to share, we are even more active on our social media.
You can follow us on the links below to stay tuned about everything regarding Zamanora, and gain access to the numerous gifts we offer to all our Newsletter subscribers!
Secret Stretch Goal Unlocked! | Koschei, the Deathless Miniature
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Mar 20, 2025 at 11:14:08 AM
Hear ye, hear ye!
ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch has officially reached over 2000 Backers! We are humbled and excited beyond words for your immense support, and promise to deliver a project that will surpass your expectations. On the other hand, why wait for the campaign’s end to start doing that?
To celebrate the 2000th Backer joining our campaign, we have collaborated with the brilliant Alex Toti to design another miniature model to accompany that of Baba Yaga’s!
The STL version of Koschei, the Deathless’ miniature is added for free in every pledge tier that already includes the STL version of Baba Yaga’s miniature. Those pledge tiers are namely the All Digital, Deluxe Box and Collector’s Box.
The physicalmasterprint version of Koschei, the Deathless’ miniature is included for free with every purchase of the Collector’s Box.
For those of you who haven’t pledged in those tiers, Koschei’s STL version is available as a standalone add-on!
You can review this information by browsing the Backer Rewards section of the campaign page.
This is merely a token of our gratitude towards all of you! We are looking forward to employing the funds provided to us through this campaign in order to make ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch the best it can be.
🔒 SHOWCASING THE MINIATURE STANDEES
Speaking of miniatures, we’d like to take this opportunity and shine the spotlight on our 2D Miniature Standees, while addressing some of your questions regarding those!
The Miniature Standees come in sheets of punch cardboard, stored in a premium box. The set contains at least one miniature for each of the 75+ Monsters featured in ZAMANORA: Ballad of the Witch, with its corresponding artwork printed on both sides. Some of them are provided for additional times, so that you may create encounters with multiple Monsters of the same type.
The box also contains a set of plastic, interchangeable bases!
All relevant unlocked stretch goals are applied.
The above image is a reference subject to change, based on manufacturing contingencies.
If you are not familiar with this type of miniature models, feel free to check out the amazing work of Wanderers Emporium as an additional reference to the result we are aiming for!
🤝 FOLLOW US
If you like our projects, you may as well like us! While we try to keep our Kickstarter updated as soon as we have news to share, we are even more active on our social media.
You can follow us on the links below to stay tuned about everything regarding Zamanora, and gain access to the numerous gifts we offer to all our Newsletter subscribers!
