Vynestra: Five books, 1,000+ pages and 5e for high-fantasy ancient Venice

I met the switched-on Vynestra team at the UK Games Expo, learned a little about their plans and saw the quality of their work. Hundreds have joined their Kickstarter, pushing towards £50,000 in support in the opening days.

Five books for 5e setting and rules are on offer, all tied together with human-created art. You can see the latest tally or join in from the pitch page.

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You can download, for free, a Vynestra preview (PDF) and check out some of the cartography (ZIP) if you’re curious.

Also, I admit the competition is neither numerous nor fierce, but Vynestra has one of the best songs in the 5e pantheon of settings.

Without a doubt, the sheer size of the 1,000+ and 5-book majesty of Vynestra will attract some backers, as will the quality of the art, and I imagine Embers are a draw, too. Embers is the new magic system which can take PCs and NPCs up to demi-god level powers or bring them crashing down. It’s a mechanic that weighs in heavily with tattoos and risks versus rewards.

Vynestra is also angled at customisation so that you can play it as you want while leaning into all that pre-written content. We’re told that content is pretty complete and will include new magical items and spells, kinships like frost-touched snow elves and phoenix-born ashensworn.

The worldbuilding includes the creation myth of The Compass to dozens of locations on the continent of Elos.

The five books are;

• World of Vynestra – the settings book.
• The Aldarin Empire – the nation lore book with Roman-style classes, sub-classes and… a bathing rest system!
• Deverous, The Amethyst Crown – a city setting with 600+ locations, inclusive NPCs and plot hooks.
• Sif’s Guide to the Creatures of Deveros – monsters, demigods and encounters.
• Blood Tithes, Chapter 1 – an adventure book for levels 1 to 5.

Fans and supporters can spread the news of the Kickstarter or pledge some cash, with the pledge manager opening to those who offer £1.

Backers with £12 offered to the campaign get their pick of one PDF as a reward.

Those supporters who offer £30 get the Blood Tithes adventure, hardcover and PDF, while those who pledge £50 get the World of Vynestra physical and PDF books, with the Ember system in them.

The monster book, Sif’s Guide, is big with art, and that’s reserved for a thank you first on offer to £40 backers, as is The Aladrin Empire book.

With five books on offer, there are many tiers, but the Full Collection in PDF form is at £60 and then again at £200. That’s a lot to spend, but over 100 backers have found the cash.

The Kickstarter pitch for Vynestra says that the PDFs will be delivered 1 to 2 months after the campaign ends mid-October, before Christmas. Probably. However, the official estimated delivery is March 2024.