Beyond the Woods: Open World Exploration and Survival for 5e
Created by Old Oak Games
A new dark fantasy setting for 5e inspired by Irish mythology, with rules for survival, hexcrawl exploration, new classes, and more!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
March Update — Special Paddy’s Day PDF!
20 days ago
– Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 02:25:33 AM
Hello friends and Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh — happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all! Before we dive into the update, we have a very special Paddy’s Day treat: a brand new monster, the Luchorpán! We’ve gone and taken the iconic leprechaun and put a Beyond the Woods dark fantasy twist on it. You can download the free PDF here and see what this twisted little faerie has in store. Be sure to let us know in the comments or on the Discord what the Luchorpán gets up to in your game — and how many feet he claims!
The Setting Guide is progressing really nicely, and a lot of things are coming together all at once. We released an updated version of the PDF last month, so if you didn’t receive it be sure to check your DrivethruRPG library or reach out directly. Here’s a breakdown of where we are. For info on what’s included in each chapter, check out our October Update here.
OUTLINE
Chapter 3. Beyond the Woods
WRITING
Chapter 1. Keeper of the Old Lore
Chapter 2. Céad Darach: First half released in PDF!
Chapter 4. Chance Encounters: Eleanor Hingley has joined us to add some unique encounters to this chapter!
Chapter 5. Treasures of the Past: Wayne Talbot has lent us his talents for this chapter, and it should be in editing by the end of the month!
EDITING
Chapter 6. Bones of the Earth: A surprise chapter that came together very quickly and is now in editing!
Adventure 6. The Curse of the Bean Sí: In dev edit and then heading for a full edit very soon!
LAYOUT
Adventure 5. The Black Keep: Editing complete and heading to layout this month.
RELEASED IN PLAYTEST PDF
Chapter 7. Faeries and the Forgotten
Adventure 1. Dead Wood
Adventure 2. The Magic Hostel
Adventure 3. The Hungry Man
Adventure 4. The Bull
As you can see, things are moving through the pipeline very nicely. Next month we’ll have an updated PDF that we expect to add at least one if not two new chapters for you to enjoy.
Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist Ending Soon
Our campaign to bring Beyond the woods to Legend in the Mist is ending in a little over a week, so be sure to check it out here. Even if you don’t back it, we have good news for our 5e fans: we’ve unlocked a new monster, which we’ll be releasing for both Legend in the Mist and 5e! When the Legend in the Mist campaign ends we’ll be asking all of our backers (both 5e and LitM) to vote to see which critter from Irish folklore gets added to the book. Here’s an early look at some of the options:
🍺 Clúrachán: The Clúrachán (or Clurichaun) is a cousin to the Luchorpán (Leprechaun), and is a mischievous and fun loving faerie. They enjoy a drink and usually haunt pubs and breweries.
🦦 Dobhar-Chú: The Dobhar-Chú (possibly meaning ‘water hound’) is the King of the Otters. Though that might sound cute, they are a fearsome creature that kills both people and animals and drinks their blood!
🧜 Murdúchann: Murdúchann (commonly known as Merrow) are akin to sirens or mermaids and are tragic and sometimes malevolent creatures that often become infatuated with mortals.
🕵️ Fear Liath: The Fear Liath, or ‘grey man’, is a Slenderman-like entity from Irish and Scottish folklore. He manifests as dark man-shaped fog, and haunts the roads and cliffsides.
Voting won’t open until the campaign ends, but let us know in the comments which creature you’d like to see in Beyond the Woods!
Until next time, go raibh míle maith agat for all your support and have a happy and healthy Paddy’s Day!
Secret Backer Tier for Returning Backers!
about 1 month ago
– Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 04:15:18 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
February Update - With a Proper Title This Time!
about 2 months ago
– Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 02:28:03 AM
So thanks to some weirdness in the Kickstarter backend, our February update was posted with the thrilling title "edit". Aaaand we didn't notice in time to change it, and we also can't delete it. Whoops!
You can read the full update here, but here's a quick summary:
The Tír Nascath Setting Guide has been updated! You can download the latest version on DrivethruRPG, the file ending in _260217
Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist launches next week! We'll have exclusive secret discounts for our 5e backers, so be sure to follow the campaign here.
Our good friends at Three Sails Studios recently launched their campaign for Gallows Corner. Check it out here.
And that's it! Sorry for the confusion! We'll be sending another update around on Monday with links to the Secret Tier for Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist, so keep an eye out!
Tá brón orm - I'm sorry!
edit
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 02:41:11 AM
Dia dhaoibh a chairde, hello friends. Another monthly update, and it’s an exciting one! Before we dive in, don’t forget to join the Discord to get even more updates and sneak peaks.
First up, the updated PDF of the Tír Nascath Setting Guideis now available, and features over 80 pages of lore, monsters, and adventures! Here’s what’s included:
The first half of the Céad Darach chapter is now included, which gives insight into the history of the city and what day to day life is like for those that live there. The second half of the chapter will come in a later update and will feature dozens of places of interest to use in your campaign. This chapter has been a blast to write so I hope everyone enjoys it!
The complete, fully-edited Faeries and the Forgotten chapter has been added, with plenty of monsters to throw at your party. Each entry includes lore about the creature, their goals and behaviour, and advice on using them in your game.
Last but certainly not least, we’ve added another awesome adventure by Gareth Hanrahan. The Bull sees the party tracking down a stolen bull from a wicked faerie lord to try to save a wedding — but not all is as it seems…
As always, please keep in mind that this is not the final version of the book! Most of the playtest PDF has been fully edited but hasn’t been proofread yet. There are some stray page references (the @@s), and a few missing pieces of art (those nice bright pink blocks you see on some pages!). All of this will be sorted in the final release, don’t worry!
Downloading the PDF
By now you should have received an email from DrivethruRPG with a link to redeem your free copy of the Tír Nascath Setting Guide. If you don’t have one already, I recommend creating a DrivethruRPG account. This will make it easier to access your PDFs in the future.
If you can’t find your download link, be sure to do the following:
Check your spam folder — sometimes emails from DrivethruRPG can get lost there!
Make sure you check the right inbox! The complimentary copies are sent out to the email address tied to your Kickstarter account that backed the project, so be sure to check that inbox! Folks who use a private Apple ID will need to reach out directly so we can resend the link to an alternate email address. Likewise, folks who pre-ordered through Backerkit should also reach out.
Get in touch! If you still can’t find the download link, drop us a DM here or contact [email protected]. Let us know the email address to use and we’ll get you a new link as soon as we can.
Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist launches in ONE WEEK!
Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist launches next Tuesday, the 24th of February! We’re excited to bring the world of Tír Nascath to a brand new system and, as a special thank you to all of you wonderful backers, we will have super secret exclusive discounted tiers for anyone who backed Beyond the Woods for 5e and wants to try out Legend in the Mist!
We’ll also be adding new monsters as we hit certain stretch goals but not to worry — we’ll be creating these for 5e as well and releasing them for FREE to all our backers!
Be sure to follow the campaign here so you don’t miss out. If you want to see Legend in the Mist in action, check out the video below.
Gallow’s Corner
Our friends over at Three Sail Studios recently launched Gallows Corner - A Peasants’ Revolt RPG and it looks amazing! We’ve already backed it, and you can find out more below.
Gallows Corner - A Peasants’ Revolt RPG
This is not your England. It's theirs. But we're going to take it back. And we'll start by burning it down!
Gallows Corner - A Peasants’ Revolt RPG is an alt-historical TTRPG system that focuses on stories of resistance, community, solidarity, and liberation in post-plague England. Created and designed by George Francis Bickers, developed and edited by Jeremy Blum, and with artwork by Joel Kilpatrick, Gallows Corner allows players to tell intensely personal stories of local resistance and struggle that ripple across a country calling out for salvation. With a rules light, narrative first approach, Gallows Corner moves beyond historical simulation and grind to capture the feeling and verisimilitude of peasant and working class struggle.
January Update — Timeline and Pledge Manager
3 months ago
– Tue, Jan 20, 2026 at 02:13:15 AM
Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh — happy new year everyone! Today we have a big update covering progress on the setting guide, timelines, and info and reminders about the pledge manager.
Before we dive in, if you haven’t received the completed PDF of the core rulebook or the playtest PDF of the setting guide, please drop us an email to [email protected].
And don’t forget to join the Discord. We’ve been sharing sneak peaks of the setting guide and showing what life is like in Céad Darach, so jump in and take a look.
Tír Nascath Setting Guide
With the corebook complete, we’ve been working on locking off chapters for the Tír Nascath Setting Guide and finalising the last of the art. This month I’m focusing on getting the Céad Darach chapter complete, but here’s the status of all the chapters, broken down by stage. For info on what’s included in each chapter, check out our October Update here.
Outline
Chapter 3. Beyond the Woods
Chapter 5. Treasures of the Past
Chapter 6. Bones of the Earth
Writing
Chapter 1. Keeper of the Old Lore
Chapter 2. Céad Darach
Chapter 4. Chance Encounters
Adventure 6. The Curse of the Bean Sí
Editing
Chapter 7. Faeries and the Forgotten
Adventure 4. The Bull
Adventure 5. The Black Keep
Layout/Released in PLaytest PDF
Adventure 1. Dead Wood
Adventure 2. The Magic Hostel
Adventure 3. The Hungry Man
On the art side, we have 41/57 illustrations complete, and expect to have the rest locked in by the end of February. You can see one of the stunning new pieces below, illustrated by Clara-Marie Morin. This shows the beautiful white steed that brought Oisín and Niamh to Tír na nÓg — and which wanderers may encounter as they venture Beyond the Woods.
Illustrated by Clara-Marie Morin
Timelines
And now for the disappointing news. Unfortunately, while we are making great progress on the setting guide, it is unlikely we will hit our March deadline for the PDF release. Though the PDF of the corebook is complete and was delivered well ahead of schedule, both books need to be printed together, so we can’t get production underway until they are both ready.
So what caused the delay? There was no one factor I can point to, it is more of a culmination of things. However, the main culprit is that the business side of things has taken far more of my time in the last few months than I had planned for. Here’s a quick rundown:
Building the Company: I want Old Oak Games to be a company that has a long life so I can keep making games for you all. In Ireland we are lucky enough to have a lot of supports for new businesses in the form of courses, government grants, and so on. These are fantastic, but all take time. This knocked a few weeks off my writing time last year.
Global Events: As I’m sure you are all aware, there is a lot going on in the world right now. Aside from the mental strain that has on us all, it has meant we needed to find the right fulfilment partner for our UK, EU, and Rest of World customer to keep the shipping costs as low as possible. I’m delighted to say we’ve found one, and it's someone I trust to get your books to you safely and on time. We’ll have more news on this soon, but needless to say this involved a lot of emails, meetings, and reviewing of quotes which took another few weeks or so of my time.
Print Costs: A knock on from the above is that print costs have risen too. The printer we had planned on using could no longer do the cloth map we wanted and, of much greater concern, their prices had almost doubled in the 12 months since I had gotten the previous quote. This meant I was on the hunt for a new printer, which involved getting recommendations from trusted colleagues, and then yet more emails, meetings, and quotes. This took another chunk out of my writing time but I’m delighted to say we’ve found a top notch printer that can do everything we want to the exacting standards we expect.
With all of the above taken into account, we are now aiming to have the completed Tír Nascath Setting Guide PDF into your digital hands by the end of May, then we’ll be printing in June, and shipping in July. The good news is that shipping timelines seem to have contracted a bit, so we are hoping to be able to start fulfilling by August or September, with physical books reaching backers from September on — but we’ll keep you updated on this closer to the time.
We’ll continue to release chapters as they are ready, so keep an eye on future updates to make sure you don’t miss out.
Pledge Manager and Surveys
We had planned on closing the pledge manager this month but, given the delay, we will be keeping it open for another month so you can update your pledge, change address, and so on. A little over 100 people haven’t completed their surveys yet, so if you haven’t had the chance please do so ASAP. We’ve had issues with folks who use an apple private ID for their Kickstarter accounts not being notified, so if that’s you or you just can’t find the email link to the pledge manager, please reach out to [email protected].
Thank You
As someone who prides themselves on not missing deadlines, this was a disheartening update to have to write. I can only apologise for the delay and thank you all for your patience and support. We’ll be back next month with a new update. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out or drop a comment below.
