Driftforge Games, an independent tabletop studio situated in the Warwickshire village of Bidford-on-Avon, has announced Vault of Monsters, a new bestiary for 5e-compatible roleplaying games. The project is scheduled to launch on the BackerKit platform on 7 May 2026 as a headline entry for the Pocketopia event.
The announcement marks a significant shift for the studio, moving from smaller, portable releases like Moo and The Catalogue of Chaos toward a substantial 200-page hardback. The volume is designed specifically for Game Masters who require ready-to-run encounters without the administrative burden of building monster mechanics from the ground up.
Lead designer James Gregory and his team have avoided the common trap of sanitising folklore for high-fantasy tropes. Instead, the Vault of Monsters draws from the more unsettling, regional corners of British and Irish legends. Featured creatures include spectral hounds in the tradition of the East Anglian Black Shuck, “bog-born terrors,” and the anomalous Vampire Rabbit of Newcastle. This focus on the “weirdness” of local superstitions, described by the creators as being “faintly damp around the edges”, suggests a product rooted in the atmospheric reality of the British countryside rather than urbanised fantasy archetypes.
The book’s mechanical framework goes beyond simple stat blocks. Each entry is structured to provide Monster Lore, specific tactics, encounter hooks, and lair details where appropriate. Notably, the book also includes new playable species, such as the Tide Thief, and additional subclasses to give players a more direct connection to the folkloric theme.
In a move that addresses ongoing industry debates regarding generative technology, Driftforge Games has confirmed that the project will use 100 per cent human-made artwork. Long-term illustration partner Nick Ashton of Chicken Monster is handling the visual development, providing a consistent, hand-crafted aesthetic to the regional horrors described in the text.
James Gregory, creator at Driftforge Games, said in a statement:
Vault of Monsters grew out of our love for the strange bits of British folklore. The black dogs, the graveyard stories, the odd local monsters, the warnings people pass down even when nobody quite remembers why. We wanted to turn that into a book GMs could use at the table: monsters with character, encounters with a clear hook and enough weirdness to make players hesitate before saying, ‘I poke it.’ They’ll still poke it, obviously.”
The campaign arrives at a time when regional, folklore-heavy roleplaying material is seeing a resurgence in the crowdfunding space. By launching through the Pocketopia 2026 event, the studio is positioning itself as a key voice for Game Masters seeking “portable and easy-to-learn” systems that do not compromise on depth or local flavour
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