Beyond the Woods: Open World Exploration and Survival for 5e

December Update - Nollaig Shona Daoibh!
3 months ago – Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 07:36:49 AM

Welcome wanderers, to the final update of the year! 

This month we have a short but exciting update to let you all know that the final release version of the Beyond the Woods Core Rulebook PDF is now ready! The latest PDF includes proofreading notes plus all the final art, and represents the files we will be sending to the printer — so if you DO spot any errors, please let us know ASAP!

Everyone will receive a link from DrivethruRPG to claim your complimentary copy of the latest version of the PDF. If you’ve already redeemed your copy, you’ll find the newest version in your library, with the file ending in _251222. As always, if you have any trouble, please reach out to us here or drop us an email to [email protected]

Thank You

As we wrap up for the holidays and prepare to see out the end of the year, I once again wanted to say thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart. This would not be possible without the support of all you wonderful backers, and I am eternally grateful to all of you. 

Nollaig Shona agus go raibh míle maith agat — happy Christmas and a thousand thank yous

• Emmet

Announcing Beyond the Woods for Legend in the Mist!
4 months ago – Fri, Dec 05, 2025 at 08:23:41 AM

Dia dhaoibh a chairde, hello friends! 

We’re back with a very special mid-month update to let you in on some big news. As just announced, Old Oak Games is delighted to be partnering with Son of Oak Game Studio to bring Beyond the Woods to the acclaimed Legend in the Mist system! This partnershipoffers fans of Legend in the Mist a new way to play, trading the rustic fantasy charm of Ravensdale for the haunted lands of Tír Nascath. The Kickstarter will launch in February 2026, and you can follow the page here to get access to the free 30 page preview PDF.

As a huge fan of the Mist Engine, I am incredibly excited to bring Beyond the Woods to Legend in the Mist. If you’re not familiar with Legend in the Mist, check out the video below to learn more. You can also download a free demo game, learn to play comic, and a very cool 5e conversion tool. 

Now, answers to some questions you might have:

• Will this affect Beyond the Woods for 5e?: Nope! Work on the Legend in the Mist version of Beyond the Woods won’t begin until the 5e Core Rulebook and Setting Guide are complete.
• Should I get the LitM version too?: That’s up to you! The content in both the 5e version and the LitM version will be the same, so you won’t be missing out — only the rules and presentation will change. If you like the sound of the more narrative approach of Legend in the Mist or are already a fan of the Mist engine, then you might want to have both!
• Can I swap to the LitM version?: Right now, we don’t have an easy way to do this, but please reach out and we’ll see what we can do. BUT we plan on offering our backers exclusive discounts to let them dive into the Legend in the Mist version too!

Thanks again for all your support. We’ll be back in a few weeks with our next update. 

Cryptborn

Our friends at Misfit Hobbies have just completed their Kickstarter for Cryptborn, a dark and atmospheric solo roll-and-write game insp0ired by the Souls-like genre, but there’s still time to back it here.

In Cryptborn, you awaken deep within the castle crypt—long dead, yet called back to life by a malevolent force. To earn your rest once more, you must purge the castle of its corruption, uncover its grim secrets, and face the horrors that lurk in every shadowed hall.

Across your journey, you’ll map your progress through the castle, manage your dwindling strength, and confront cursed bosses in a desperate fight for redemption. Each sheet tells the story of your descent, your choices, and the cost of survival.

With striking artwork, haunting lore, and tight, strategic gameplay, Cryptborn is a must-play experience for fans of Darkest Dungeon and Dark Souls.

November Update — Adventure Awaits!
5 months ago – Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 10:50:59 AM

Dia dhaoibh a chairde, hello friends! Hard to believe it’s already November, but here we are! Let’s dive into this month’s update, starting with the big news: the first few chapters of theTír Nascath Setting Guide are now available! 

The playtest PDF includes:

• The early draft of chapter 7. Faeries and the Forgotten with statblocks for the Avartach, Bean Sí and more. Most are without their text descriptions but we wanted to get these out to you ASAP so you could start throwing them at your players.
• An updated version of Dead Wood, the adventure that previously appeared in our Quick Start.
• The Magic Hostel, a fantastically weird little adventure by the amazing Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
• And The Hungry Man, a tragic and terrifying tale set deep in an ancient part of the Cuilchemar, also by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.

As always, please keep in mind that this is not the final version of the book! 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!

We Want Feedback!

Just like we did with the Core Rulebook, we’ll keep updating the PDF as new chapters make it through editing and layout, but we want to hear from you! If you run one of these adventures for your group or use one of the monsters, let us know how it went. What worked, but especially what didn’t work (did we accidentally cause a TPK?!). You can send feedback to [email protected] or, better yet, join the Discord and share your feedback directly with me and other players!

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. 

‘I didn’t get a download link!’

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.

Book Update

A quick update on progress on the two books:

• Core Rulebook: Proofreading is complete on the Core Rulebook and these changes are being implemented. Once this is done, the PDF is essentially fully complete!
• Tír Nascath Setting Guide: Editing is underway on the remaining adventures, and we’re hoping to get those into layout this month. On the writing side, I will be finishing the text for the Faeries and the Forgotten chapter this month and moving on to the Céad Darach chapter — which I can’t wait for!

What Next?

With the Core Rulebook effectively done, we are now fully focused on getting the Setting Guide complete. We’re aiming to have the near-final PDF out to backers by early next year, and then we can start print prep (exciting!). 

Once again thank you all for your incredible support — we literally couldn’t have done this without you! We would really really love to hear your feedback on the adventures and monsters, so be sure to drop comments below or join the Discord and come chat with me and other fans.

Until next month, sláinte!

October Update
6 months ago – Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 03:29:19 AM

Happy October everyone! 

It’s Spooky Season (or should we say, Samhain Season) and we’re back with another update.

PDF Update

First up, the Beyond the Woods Core Rulebook PDF has been updated on DrivethruRPG! This update adds all the remaining text and includes rules for creating Bastions, more lore about the world, over 30 unique encounters, and some monsters and critters for your game. We pushed this update about a week or so ago, so you may have already gotten an email from DrivethruRPG about it. Just to be safe, we’ve resent the PDFs to everyone. You should receive an email form DrivethruRPG notifying you of the update. Otherwise, go to the website and click "My Library" in the top right. The latest version of the file ends in "_251004". If you have any issues, please reach out here or drop us an email to [email protected]

Just a reminder, the PDF hasn't been proofread yet, so there may still be some minor errors or missing page references (@@s). There are also a few bits of art still to be added. These will all be included in a future update.

If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear from you! You can contact us at the email above or, better yet, join the Discord!

Setting Guide Update

The Tír Nascath Setting Guide is now well underway — and has ballooned to over 200 pages! We have received 5 out of the 6 adventures, which have all had a development pass and are now in editing. There’s a little over 50k words of writing left in the rest of the book, which is the main focus now. This includes the following:

• Chapter 1. Keeper of the Old Lore: An intro to the world and guidance for the GM on running a Beyond the Woods campaign. 
• Chapter 2. Céad Darach: A detailed look at the city of Céad Darach — what is daily life like, how do people survive and stay entertained, what customs and religions are there, and a collection of interesting locations the party can visit.
• Chapter 3. Beyond the Woods: Secrets of the world of Tír Nascath for the GM’s eyes only. Includes information on flora and fauna, the Otherworld, and numerous locations and sites to drop into your campaign.
• Chapter 4. Chance Encounters: Over 30 new encounters to add to your game (just like those you’ll find in the updated PDF!)
• Chapter 5. Treasures of the Past: Guidance for the GM on rewarding the party, as well as a handful of ancient artefacts.
• Chapter 6. Bones of the Earth: Rules for creating your own ruins and adventure sites, with lots of fun tables to roll on.
• Chapter 7. Faeries and the Forgotten: Over a dozen new Irish-inspired monsters to add to your game. 

What Next

With most of the adventures now in editing, we’re aiming to get as many of them as possible into layout in the coming weeks. Once that’s done, our goal is to get some or all of the adventures out to you fine folk for playtesting and feedback. 

As always, go raibh míle maith agat for all your support.

BIG UPDATE! Playtest PDF Now Available!
7 months ago – Tue, Sep 09, 2025 at 04:32:32 AM

Dia dhaoibh a chairde, hello friends, and happy September! 

We have a very exciting update this month — the Beyond the Woods playtest PDF is now available to download! The download includes the Beyond the Woods Core Rulebook (with 8 out of the 10 chapters), the gorgeous hex map of Tír Nasath, and both colour and printer friendly versions of our custom character sheets.

Keep in mind that this is not the final version of the book! The playtest PDF has been fully edited but hasn’t been proofread yet, and is missing a few pieces of art (those nice bright pink blocks you see on some pages!). There's also a few @@s instead of page references for the chapters that aren't included. 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 Beyond the Woods playtest materials. 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. 

‘I didn’t get a download link!’

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. 
• 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. 

We Want Feedback!

It has been a massive amount of work to get here and I am beyond excited to share the playtest PDF with you all. But I want to hear from you! What do you love, what do you hate, and did we miss anything. You can send feedback to [email protected] or, better yet, join the Discord and share your feedback directly with me and other players!

Book Update

A quick update on progress on the two books:

• Core Rulebook: We only have one and a bit chapters left! The Bastions and Outpost chapter is now complete and ready for editing, and we just need to add a few more spells to the Magic chapter and then that will be put to bed too. This month I’m working on the final chapter, The Unknown World, and that should be ready for editing next month.
• Tír Nascath Setting Guide: Unfortunately, due to other commitments, Elaine Lithgow will no longer be able to write an adventure for the setting guide. However, in her stead, Gareth Hanrahan has stepped up to write not one but two extra adventures! 

New Art

You’ll find a lot of lovely new art in the Core Rulebook PDF, including two stunning new pieces from Siman Vlaisavljević on pages 36 and 99, as well as a gorgeous piece by Laura Galli on page 25 which you can see below.

What Next?

The Core Rulebook is almost done, so work will start in earnest on the Tír Nascath Setting Guide next month! 

Once again thank you all for your incredible support — I literally couldn’t have done this without you! I’d love to hear your feedback on the playtest PDF so be sure to drop comments below or join the Discord and come chat with me and other fans.

Until next month, sláinte!