TheEternalSovereign
Villager
Howdy Eternal Sovereign buddy!
I'm flattered, but I am just an average guy with a fondness for designing monsters.
Always pleased to hear people like my books, I pour a lot of passion into them.
I'm still hanging in there. I tried my hand at videogame design in around the early 2010's and landed my dream job only for the company to split with its partner/parent company literally that week - that was incredibly disheartening. But things happen for a reason; a year or so later and I met an amazing woman and fell in love.
No I simply didn't finish any more books - the Publisher would have printed anything I finished.
I finished the Epic Bestiary in 2005
Started working on Immortals Handbook Ascension, which I completed (aside from half the interior art) in early 2007.
Basically I got a job in 2007 (to help pay the bills). The Epic Bestiary sold really well BUT it was taking me 18 months to finish a book and the sales were not enough to sustain me for 18 months, so I needed supplemental income.
Once I started that job it was apparent that I had next to zero free time to do anything, let alone write a book (which was taking me 18 months even when I wasn't working). After 6 months I dropped down to part time in the job to give myself a chance of writing something.
But I had been really burned on 3.5E, its so laborious and unnecessarily time consuming that to be honest I had grown to hate it. 4th Edition was just around the corner so I decided to write something for that instead. From the previews of 4th Edition it looked very design-friendly.
But I thought, maybe I'll write something and build up to epic tier with my next book. So I wrote the Vampire Bestiary: Mountain of the Cannibal God. In true Krust fashion that project soon turned into 3 books - I was writing all 3 sort of simultaneously (maybe each was 25% behind the last in terms of progress).
But the sales for the first part of the Vampire Bestiary pdf were terrible compared to what I was used to with the Epic Bestiary. I can't remember exact figures but it was probably in around 5%. So that completely deflated me for finishing the second and third parts - even though I had already commissioned art for those books (I still have 80% of the art for both of those unpublished works).
I worked on some ideas for Immortal Tier Book for 4th Edition, but I never got the project off the ground really - I had been working on some videogame designs and was trying to get a job in that industry. So I sort of game up on the RPG stuff for a bit.
Once the videogame stuff didn't work out (due to some crazy bad luck) I started writing a comic book/graphic novel. I currently have 120 (of 144 pages of that finished). I temporarily sidelined that project because working on both the comic and this Bestiary were slowing down progress on both to a crawl.
In late 2019 I decided to get back into RPG design and write (what became this book). I had about 60 pages written but when I looked at the book it completely lacked the EPIC WOW FACTOR I wanted to bring to the project, so I basically tripled the monster count) which went from an initial 27 to eventually now 77). Of course that delayed the project.
In 2020 my father got sick with Cancer (pancreatic) and passed away a few short months later. It takes a while to get over this sort of thing and luckily I had my girlfriend/partner to help. After a few months I was able to start writing again.
Then in early 2021 my girlfriend got Covid and seemed unable to recover. Eventually they diagnosed she had double cancer (stage 4 small cell lung and throat) plus a Brain Aneurysm. She started double strength radiotherapy treatment right away but the cancer had already spread to her liver and she passed away just 9 weeks after being diagnosed.
So its taken a bit of time but I picked myself up and have gradually got myself together and started making decent progress (or at least decent for me that is) on this book again.
Life has knocked me down a few times, you just have to keep getting back up again. But everyone goes through these trials at some point in their lives.
Yes, but the design of this book is different to most monster books. The entries are not alphabetical. Its basically six groupings of monsters and then some other example Gods & Monsters that are needed to showcase some game mechanics.
One of those six groupings (each grouping features 11 entries) is an extension of something from the first Bestiary. I won't say what that is but its pretty cool, one of the monsters from the first Bestiary is directly converted to this new book.
Another grouping has a monster mentioned in the first Epic Bestiary that was never before detailed. So there is a bit of a crossover.
If I ever get to do a sequel to this new book I have some unbelievable ideas for another follow-up from that old Epic Bestiary. But lets get this first book finished before I start daydreaming about the next one.
I have plans for the Infinitaur BUT not for this book, sorry.
I sort of want to do a series of these books (I know how crazy that sounds - given my typical output rate) and keep upping the ante with each book. So even though there are some crazy monsters in THIS book I want to leave some room to keep making each subsequent book even more ridiculous than the last.
Lol, really! I'll have to go look for it.
I actually did a small layout for a double page spread for a future book cover featuring both an Infinitaur and a Time Lord as part of a potential series of books.
The next thing will be this EPIC RULES book Kickstarter. Then probably my superhero Graphic Novel after that. Then hopefully another EPIC RPG book.
But at this point I'll settle for one book at a time.
Well now I know why you make epic level handbooks because epic is the only level someone like you should receive. Because of all your trials and tribulations you have endured more than most do. Im sorry to hear about all the sorrow youve endured but maintaing postivity throughout it makes you quite the powerful individual.
I also understand your breaking from your progress to get ends to meet for bills highly logical amd responsible.
If you have a link to those cover arts i'd be happy to examine it as it is art that got me into DND in the first place. Its because of art and concepts like yours amd so many others I was fortunate enough to meet my wife and to DM for a group that at one point reached 25 players. That was quite that handful.
Is there a mailing list I can get on to know about your progress on this upcoming bestiary.
Do let me know on a personal level how your are doing from time to time. Sometimes we as humans in the modern era can really feel alone but you have a voice and I have ears eager to hear it should ever you need someone to vent to that will hold no judgement towards you
