Easing into Monday...Enjoy

Hand Drawn Campaign Map

This is an unmarked version of my campaign map.  Even my players haven't seen this or know where they are located.  We've been playing I think for three months and they have just traveled out of the original hex they started from.  Game night tomorrow night.  Looking forward to it.

Selling Some Gaming Books

I've got a fat stack of White Wolf's original Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Changeling.  I'm willing to sell these bad boys cheap.  If your interested just email me elder(underscore)sensa(at)yahoo(dot)com.  All I ask is let me know how much you're willing to pay and since these guys weight a ton (around 15.5lbs) to pay the shipping also.  I'm not sure if there will be many or any offers for these books, but if you're looking for a stash of early Vampire books let me know.  All the books are in pretty good condition.  Here are the books included.

Vampire
The Main Rule Book (hardcover)  SOLD!
The Players Guide
The Players Guide to The Sabbat
The Storytellers Handbook to The Sabbat
Chicago by Night
Children of the Inquisition (over-sized book)

Werewolf
The Main Rulebook   SOLD!
Players Guide 
Book of the Wyrm
Ways of the Wolf

Mage
Main Rulebook

More to come!  I've got to make some room on my shelves.

Sleestak in Black

Love this picture.  To me this is what the sleestak look like when they are coming out of the night to get you.  I decided to couple this with the Tower of the Archmage's Happy Terrainsgiving Contest. He's giving away a very ruin tower.  All you need to do is write an encounter that would happen at the tower, follow him if your aren't already and then post a comment on his blog.  All entries must be in by the 10th of this month.  I'm combining this Sleestak Sunday with his contest.

Background
Twenty years ago the Hills of Stratford were lined with a series of forts built to defend against the invading armies of the goblinoids.  After a few years and several successful adventuring parties the lose organization of the goblinoid army crumbled as their leaders were killed, their treasures looted and the temples brought down upon their heads.  The forts no longer served a purpose in the eyes of the nobility.  With no army to defend against, the forts were abandon.  They were to be destroyed so as not to provide refuge for bandits or allow a rival a foothold within their land.  This was not done.

One of the most remote outposts known as Starges Tower stood against the Bleak Mountains.  With the constant wind, the barren landscape and months on end of isolation, the soldiers of Starges slowly devolve.  They're commander, Jeron, was assigned the post as a token.  He returned from a campaign in the desert  with a religious zealousness that embarrassed the most dedicated priests.  Some say it was heat stroke.  Others said he was possessed by demons.  Despite this, his military methods were highly effective and his family too influential for the nobility to dismiss him.  Instead they stationed the volatile commander at the Tower of Starges where his madness was refined.

Jeron brought with him a book he'd found in the desert.  A book of nightmares.  At first the soldiers thought it a joke and passed the time coming up with nicknames for Jeron.  But as the months passed and the resolve deteriorated Jeron offered them a solace.  He offered them a purpose beyond standing the wall staring out at nothing.  His soldiers memorized passages of a language they did not speak.  Jeron led them through rituals which they did not understand, but it gave them distraction and a sense of purpose.

After twenty-seven months with their only contact being the seasonal supplies, a messenger arrived.  His message, the soldiers were to return and the tower destroyed.  The messenger's words barely crossed his lips before he was killed.  His body stretched out on the barren ground as they preformed the final ceremony in the sacred book.

A few months after the initial messenger was sent and no soldiers returned, a small group was sent.  The family of Jeron wanted to know the reason why everyone else had returned but him and his men.  When the group arrived they found the tower still standing, but abandon.  They're investigation found the soldiers had left everything behind as if they had left in the middle of the day.  Food sat half eaten, clothes still resting on wash boards and a letter half written sat upon Jeron's desk.  The letter, though made of recognizable letters was not comprehensible.

The small group decided to leave in the morning.  Most were soldiers at one time and had the sense to post watch.  None of them slept.

As the night fell and the howling winds increased, Jeron and his men emerged from the ground transformed.  No longer bearing any resemblance to man, Jeron's skin had grown scales, eyes large and black, hands replaced with jagged pinchers.  His men the same.  They came upon the terrified visitors and one by one slaughtered them.

In the morning the bodies of the men were stretched out upon the barren landscape as an offering to a god whose name they did not speak.

Wow. Very Cool Vid.

All I can say is wow.  Fantastic job.  I saw this over on Google+ and thought I would swipe it.  Beautiful voice and not too hard to look at either.  Bethesda, you need to hire her.

A Collection of General Bullshit and Some Good Stuff

Tome of Adventure
First off, I saw a video of ze bullette looking through a copy of The Tomb of Adventure.  Did it ship?  I've been waiting by the post box for the past few days accusing the mailmen and one suspect looking mailwoman of stealing my book.  After being escorted out by gunpoint and told never to return I was wondering if I should chance a midnight raid to see if it arrived.

Other Left Column of Purchases
Other recent purchases have placed me precariously close to the edge of dropping over the $1000 spending on game stuff for the year.  I have only a few weeks left.  I'm wondering what product will tempt me enough to take the plunge.  With Oubliette 7 and the Gamemastering book I got for free I have a lot to read.  Then I bought Legend from Mongoose for a buck.  I thought I would see what it was. 

Start Adventures
Things are progressing slowly, but work is being done.  I am increasing my bugging of Rob for maps.  I still have to give him the big map for the tavern.  We are going to work it out so there will be a map included of the tavern that can be printed out to use with miniatures.  Then I'll fire off copies to readers to do some proofing because I can never ever catch all the typos.


Map Eating Dogs
They remain alive.  Though many of you seem to be on their side, justifying their deliberately desecration of a Manor artifact.  Because of my situation at the post office and some other minor indiscretions has an unmarked dark blue impala police car across the street watching my every move.  And if I wasn't mistaken, late last night I think I saw the glint of a sniper scope in a tree within the woods.

Game Night
The players have just encountered something...big.  Can't wait to see how it plays out.

Modern Warfare 3
Got my kill ratio up to a 1.06.  At least I am on the positive.  When I first play I think it was at .65.  I always sucken muchen at first.  But now asses are starting to get kicked and names aren't be taken because once I kill you I don't care.  Muhahaha.  The system. the 360 (not those sissy PS3 blue ray players Lurker).  The gamer tag: Gothridge.


Loviatar
I think the latest Loviatar is the best.  I really love Christian's editorials.  The real gem in issue 5 is the starting hex.  It is very cool.  Fun.  And if you are still being a lazy arse and haven't gotten Loviatar go get it now.  I'll wait.  

The Happy Whisk
She says hi to everyone.  Lunch is at noon.  She is roasting a chicken with onions and potatoes.  

Netflix
I've been watching this show called Being Human.  A British show about a vampire, werewolf and ghost.  It's been pretty good so far.  It has some funny parts in it.  I'm a little confused about the ghost stuff though, in the first episode she was talking a lot to the pizza delivery guy and took out the trash and people saw her, but now normal humans are unable to see her.  The mythologies around the werewolf are standard fare.  The vampire mythology got rid of anything that would make filming difficult.  He can eat, can be in the daylight, and apparently his hands are always cold because he's always wearing gloves with the fingers cut off.

Well time to get going.  Have a great Saturday.  "Be seeing you."

Oh Crap, One More Thing
I just saw Joseph Browning just turned 40 and doesn't look a day over 45.  He's putting a ton of his items at Expeditious Retreat Press for $1.  I'm headed there now.  Could this be causes me to go over the edge?

The Dog Ate My Map

No seriously.  I just came home with a pizza in hand and I open up the door to find my map, a map I've had for many years, shredded.  Wiggy running around with the half she hadn't quite had time to shred still in her mouth.  This was my map of Eastgate.  It was my first big map of a big city, with each section detailed in smaller maps.

Wiggy remains alive and well, but I am not sure for how long.  Here is a picture of the culprits.  Bug may have had nothing to do with the map shredding, but I have found her guilty by association.

I'm Tired As...

New Map

Rob Conley sent me a few maps for Starter Adventures.  This one is for one of the magic-user scenarios.  He even drew some rats for me.  I started the layout of the sixteen scenarios.  That will be the bulk of it.  Each one is a one to two encounter created for one of the four classes.

Low Level Magic Item

Gerald the Not So Swift demonstrates how not to sheath a dagger.

When I write adventures I do the stream of consciousness thing and just keeping writing and putting down what ever sounds cool.  This is how I come up with most of my magic items, monsters or additional elements into the campaign.  When writing Starter Adventures, because it is written for absolute low level beginners I wanted to include magic items, but I needed to keep them low-level in power, but still useful.  The Torch Knife is one example.

Torch Knife

This useful item originated with the thieves guild.  With the invention of the torch knife thieves no longer needed to carry around cumbersome torches or lanterns.  A light source they could command to turn on instantly and more importantly off.  Since then their popularity has grown among adventurers and young nobles who like to collect roguish weapons.  

Torch knives are activated by a simple command sound, ‘shhh’.  This will activate and deactivate it.  Custom command words are available, but this increases the price.  A torch knife gives off enough light to see a foot or two in front of the wielder.  This illumination is not variable.  It's bright enough to read script, pick locks and signal someone in the night. 

It acts as a normal knife in combat.  It is not considered a magic weapon.  For those creatures that require a magic weapon to hit them, the combatant will need to find another weapon. 

The average cost at market for a torch knife is around 100gp.  This price can be as low as 50gp or up to 200gp.  These are not difficult to find.  Nearly any adventurer supply shop or magic shop will have these in stock.

Almost Dead

Game night went well.  Everyone  showed up and on time, technical difficulties were non-existent and all the players survived...almost.  My players have a grueling foe they are fighting.  These guys are very good at illusions and shapeshifting.  So for them they are constantly questioning anyone they meet.  "Are the are who they say they are?" 

Last night they encountered a room littered with illusions.  Most of the characters figured out that it was an illusion, but failed to disbelieve entirely (failed their saves so they could still be harmed by the illusions).  Boog, failed his save and charged in.  What the other players saw was Boog get paralyzed.  What Boog experienced was a battle that nearly ended his life. 

Boog battled his nemesis Waldron, but found him quite a different opponent now they were no longer on the same side.  Their feud goes back to the beginning of the campaign when they both guarded the fort.  Waldron and Boog traded blows, but a cleric healed Waldron and he was able to strike the death blow.

A quick side note.  In our campaigns those who are honorable and serve a god can earn bless amulets from the  churches.   These amulets offer a +1 to all rolls, but if that isn't enough they also can save the wearer's life by deflecting a death blow or in Boog's case have him hover at death's door.  Boog hovered in that doorway and the others players fast actions was able to pull him away and revive him.  Once the bless amulet saves the wearer it is destroyed. 

It ended with them spiraling down into a deep cavern and poor Boog, failed his saving throw vs. death magic when he came across...

Next week the players will find out.

Expectations of a Small-Time Publisher

There has been some interesting conversations going on about Professionals vs. Hobbyists and I guess like me, most of us are both.  Some may sway toward one end or the other, but if you have put something out there selling, you are a professional.  My definition of a professional is you get paid for what you do.  Quality doesn't factor in.  I am sure you don't need any examples of books or movies where the person got paid a boatload of cash and the product completely sucks. 

Being a one of many in the crowd of small-time publishers I try to be as professional as I can.  None of the products I produce will be flawless, but I try to get them as close as I can.  I just had someone the other day point out a typo I missed.  Much appreciated.  Those damn things seem to spontaneously spawn.  If someone dislikes my product for whatever reason, I just hope they will stick around and see if they like the next one.  And then there are those times when you have someone hate what you've done, but have no real basis, other than personal or they just enjoy being a dick.  Those I won't waste my time on.  You let them have their say then forget them and move on to something more important. 

Then there is the matter of money.  I've been open about the profit margin on my products, how many I've sold and how much I made so far.  It's still listed above.  I can do this because I'm a one man show so far, but if I was producing more and had a few people on staff I would still be open about certain things, but be more private about others.  But the point I what to get to is charging for what you've done.  Some will say there is so much free stuff out there why pay for it?  And the answer is you don't.  There is a lot of great quality free stuff.  Part of what makes the OSR great.  But the other great part of the OSR is being able to self-publish and make some extra change.  I doubt many will get rich, but some people are making some serious mad money.  The public will decide whether your product is worth purchasing.  It's not like we don't have any shortage of people with opinions around here.

When Knowledge Illuminates came out I was hoping to sell 25 to 35 copies.  I kept my expectation low partly because it was the first thing I put out there and it was pretty much a one man show.  I think with my $1 sale, I've reach 90 paid sales.  I'm thrilled with that.  It was fun and a learning experience.  With Starter Adventure I am hoping to sell a 100 copies print/pdf.  To me that's scary high because it needs to sell word of mouth.  I have no distributor and don't have time to sell them by hand.  With assistance of Underworld Ink for the art and the maps by Bat in Attic I hope to produce a good quality book that people will have fun with.  I really won't know until I get it out there.

But to all of you out there that has no taken the plunge and have something they may want to publish I say take a look at it again, have you made it as good as you can at this time, if so publish it and don't be afraid to make some money.  Even if you only sell a handful enjoy the pizza you buy.  If you sell a 1000 then go ahead and plan the trip to Tahiti.  It's all good.  This is a game we are talking about.  Not a necessity.  Have fun with it and if done right others will have fun with it to.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to edit this post, the dogs are biting at my jacket and I am late to work.  Game night tonight here at the Manor and I'm looking forward to rolling some dice. And as I mention, once the guys finish the adventure I'll put it up as a free download.  It's Monday, it's raining and I would wish you to have a good day, but I doubt it.  Ha.

Sleestak Sunday

This picture is from Vince Dorse.  He has a lot of cool pictures, but for some reason, I'm not sure why, this caught my attention.  Go to his site check out his work it's very cool.  Great use of color.  Sadly though, this is the only sleestak picture I could find.  Have a great Sunday folks.

Layout, Finding a Home for Art

Yesterday I spent 4 hours on seven pages of Starter Adventures. I did the layout for the dungeon adventure section and I forgot the fricking map. More layout time for me today. 

Rob Conley did the map and will do all the maps.  Jason Sholtis and John Larrey did all the artwork.  That's the best and hardest part of the layout having all these great things to put in.  When I did layouts for my other products I didn't worry about art because I had none.

For each drawing and each map I am trying to find its home in the space of the page.  I know it sounds dramatic, but it's true.  Each serves a purpose for a particular section of the manuscript.  Making them fit in a pleasing way is a challenge.  I guess I could compare it poorly to an art gallery where each has its space on the wall and there is a method to the presentation. 

When I checked my layout yesterday I noticed I placed most of the drawings in the right column near the bottom.  So I went back and altered the locations to help break up the text and assist in imagining the adventure I'm trying to convey.  It's an interesting process.  Although I have cussed out my computer screen for not doing what I wanted I think I have a handle on it.

Now I am onto the New Monster and New Magic Item sections and if I can get Ivy off the couch and pry the 360 controller from her hands (she is glazed over playing a marble spitting frog game) we may go to the bookstore.  Have a great weekend.