Mork Borg, Black Hack, Fallout, Dice, and More

It was a very good Christmas at the Manor. Ivy and I worked hard this year to make the best of it. Our reward was to have the ability to splurge on some gifts and enjoy a real vacation. Here are the gaming gifts I am loving. 

Ivy bought herself a Staedtler stylus for her new Remarkable 2 and absolutely loved it. She saw they had products I might enjoy and so she grabbed these ergo-friendly colored pencils. They are so good! The triangle shape and soft texture make them fantastic to use. Plus they blend so well. I hope to share some maps soon.

Part 2 of the Staedtler gifts. Markers. They are all the same size .03, and they bleed a bit. But the black is a true black. I used it as a filler pen and it works fantastic. I am curious to see what other options they have.

Dollar Tree has this deal going on where they are selling a set of 7 dice for a buck. That's $1. I went in for the case of 24 sets. Now I know I don't need more dice, but I have a good reason. Really I do. I was thinking of doing an endtable, fill a box with the dice and epoxy. Although I really want to open them all up and just roll. 

I received a copy of Black Hack. I actually thought it was The Black Hack 2. I have to read better. However, I only had this on PDF so I am happy to have a copy. 

I grabbed three (well four, I accidently bought two of one of the decks) Inkwell Sidequest Decks. 

Dungeons, Caves, & Ruins Fantasy Deck

Wilderness & Frontier Fantasy

Political and Urban Fantasy

I've been wanting these decks for a while now. I've looked through them and see Matt Jackson and Dyson contributed maps. Small write ups on each map. A variation of my micro-adventures. It got me to thinking of doing something like this only with tarot card sized decks. 

The beast of 2020, Mork Borg. This won a bunch of awards and I've seen several Kickstarters and other 3rd party publishers jumping on board this juggernaut. Each page is a mind explosion. The time it must have taken to layout each page. No pair of pages is a like. 

And my last gaming gifts, I love my Fallout. I grabbed Fallout Wasteland Warefare RPG and Wasteland Warefare Dice Set. I'm not sure if I would ever run this as is. I've always wanted to create a d20 version of it. I think with this book and with the other source materials I have, the only thing that is stopping me is time. 

That wraps up my Christmas. I am excited to read and use them all. 

Mystery Box of Adventures: Sold Out! Thanks!

 

The GM Games warehouse needs room. So this year I'm offering a Mystery Box of Adventures! The picture above is a sample of what you might find in one of the boxes. 

The Mystery Box of Adventures consists of 25 items from my warehouse. All randomly packed by Whisk. Inside each box, all of these are possible. 

• Micro-Adventures, small and zine-sized
• Micro-Locations, small and also zine-sized 
• NPC Cards
• Mini Manor Zines
• Issues of the Manor
• Hunters in Death 
• And other surprises

These will be shipped in zine-sized manuscript box. These boxes are sturdy and can withstand fireballs and the paralytic touch of ghouls. But the best thing about them, perfect to store zines. Even though I'm throwing 25 items into each box, there is plenty of room left for other zines. And we all need more zine storage.  

The Mystery Box of Adventure is $50. That's $2 per adventure and shipping is included.. Help me make more space in my warehouse for 2021 and you'll have more adventures, locations, and NPCs than you can shake a +5 Holy Avenger at. 

I only have a couple dozen of Mystery Boxes of Adventure! so grab one while you can. Or two, sent one to a gaming friend. 

Due to the brutal cost of international shipping I can only ship within the United States. 

Artist Spotlight: Jeremy Hart

Jeremy Hart is not an artist that is going to give you a standard goblin or an angry face orc. Jeremy gives you nightmares. 

I've been using his work for years. His style and choice of subject allows a writer like myself to go deeper and darker. The creatures he draws won't be found in any standard monster book. Jeremy digs into that dark ID we possess and manifests these horrors. 

One of the features I really love about his artwork is the backgrounds he adds. These backgrounds set the mood, framing his creatures in chaos. 

This is the cover of the alpha release of Mythhoard. It was the first exclusive. Jeremy's art inspired the entire sandbox adventure. And I absolutely love that cover.

Jeremy's art has been on the cover for some of my micro-adventures. His images pack a punch. When scrolling through products and one of Jeremy' pieces comes up, I stop to check it out. Just fantastic.

Right now Jeremy has a Kickstarter. The Creature Feature Quarterly. He's offering four volumes. He crafts the monster and stats them using OSR systems. There is one day left. I'm in for the $15 to get all four quarters. 

Here are some of the other links where you can find Jeremy Hart and his incredible work.

DriveThru RPG

Patreon

Blogspot - check this page out, really shows off his work

Facebook

Instagram

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TeePublic

Giveaway: A Copy of Hunters in Death

 

How would you like to get a copy of Hunters in Death?

Well Matt Jackson ordered two copies and said to give the other one away. So let's do that. 

Just comment below or in any of my social media posts about the giveaway to enter. Maybe thank Matt for the idea.

I ship worldwide so anyone can enter.

I'll pick a winner tomorrow night, 8pm Eastern time. 

Good luck and enjoy the day. 

Game Store Finds: Zine Artifacts

I rarely go out these days, and even rarer do I go to the gaming stores. But yesterday I felt the need to go for a drive and I ended up 35 minutes away at a gaming store I visit a couple times a year. About half the time I go they have a small selection of older gaming items. I scored yesterday. I grabbed all of it except for two 2nd ed. GM screens. 

A Forgotten Realms map? I know I have one or two copies of it, but for a buck! Hell yeah I am getting it.

I'd forgotten how large the map is. It's as tall as Ivy. She tried to stand on her tip-toes and act like she was a giant, but she was still shorter.

I wasn't expecting to find zine artifacts! What!?!? I don't have a lot of knowledge of past zines so I did a little research. It looks like Griffon Magazine had a six issue run that ran from May 1988 to January 1990.

It looks like I know have issues #4 and #5. I haven't had a chance to look through them other than a flip through. The font is tiny, but surprisingly legible. 

Then this zine sized gem, Bounty Hunters Handbook. It looks to be from the same folks who did Griffon Magazine. This one looks to use similar format also. I was psyched to find these in the store. Completely unexpected.

Another old time magazine. I've never owned a copy of Polyhedron. Unfortunately this one was kind of jacked up. Someone carelessly jammed it into a tight protective sleeve and the back pages were ripped. 

It was tight because there were two other items inside. Silver Griffin (seems to be a theme forming) was the NRPA newszine. Never saw a copy before. 

I have a lot JG from back in the day, but I don't think I owned this one. Either way for $3 why not. It's in good condition. I have a special fondness for this adventure because my friend Rob Conley updated it for Goodman Games. Which happened long enough ago that it would be considered a relic. 

I know I have a copy of this, but I decided to grab it for an extra.

I didn't know what this one was. No title. Just knew it was Forgotten Realms. It's for a region called The Great Glacier. I know I don't have that one. Now I need to find the rest of it.

Not a bad run at the gaming store. I think my total was $22.

Artist Spotlight: Denis McCarthy

 

I've featured Denis's work in my own adventures several times, including the fantastic cover for issue #9 of The Manor, picture above. His work can be found in nearly a 100 publications on DriveThruRPG, including several issues of Gabor Lux's Echoes from Fomulhaut and Castle Xyntillan, Erik Tenka'r's Swords & Wizardy Continual Light ruleset, Greg Saunders's Warlock products, and John M Stater's Blood & Treasure. That's just a few.

His artwork has the look and feel of the old-school aesthetic I love to see. In short, he draws fun pictures. And the reason hos work is found in so many places. 

He's got a fantastic range of work, but I think what he does best is capture the personality of the characters he draws. I've used this bartender several times because he now become "when I imagine what my bartender looks like" model. I use a lot of Denis's portraits for my NPCs. 

Does he do monsters? Check. He's got a variety of beasties on his digital store. 

Dungeon scenes. Check.

Random items and minutia. Check. 

You can get a lot of pieces from Denis on a budget. His prices range from $1.49 to $5. One of the products I'd like to point you to is his Stock Fantasy Character Art 2. You get a dozen images of adventures/NPCs at your disposal for only $4.99. 

Denis is always creating. He has a Patreon I've pledge to since the beginning and he's always got something great going on there. Below are the links where you can find more information about Denis and his fantastic artwork. Please consider backing his Patreon or pursuing his work on DriveThruRPG. 

Oh, and did I mention, he's probably one of the nicest people you'll meet. I've only had great experiences when I work with Denis. 

DriveThruRPG

Facebook

Instagram

Woodpress

Patreon

Revisiting Old Micro-Adventures: The Pig and the Ogre

 

I've been doing my Patreon since June of 2014. Yep, a way long time. The Pig and the Ogre was my 3rd micro-adventure. It was done on a 4" x 6" notecard that I laminated. My mapping style was basic with a flair of colored pencils. I was using a program called Xara to add the numbers and adventure title. What you see on the map is about the extent of what I could do. 

I used silhouettes to depict the monsters, and the pig in this case. I can't draw worth a shit and I didn't have a lot of money to buy stock art so I made due. And the system I used was Swords & Wizardry.

I present a simple situation where the crops are being damage by an ogre and villagers are afraid that they won't have enough food for the winter. I love my fake sleeping ogre and the fact he created a makeshift catapult escape plan. What could go wrong? 

I present you the adventure with warts and all. If you're interested in the PDF of The Pig and the Ogre you can grab it off my Patreon for free. 

Introduction

An ogre was spotted in the forest outside the village. The northern crops were heavily damaged. If more fields are harmed the villagers will not have enough food for the winter.

1. North Field

The three north fields look like a giant pig routed around ground leaving large holes. Nothing to do with the ogre. Only a few plants managed to survive the onslaught. Also apparent is the large foot prints next to giant hooved prints. They are easily tracked into the dark forested area.

2. Forest

The forest is thick with large trees and heavy undergrowth. The ogre has left an easy trail to follow. Within the forest the party will need a light source. Fire light sources may cause a bit of extra excitement (a 1 in 6 chance of catching debris or dead branches on fire).

3. Pit Traps

The ogre has dug a series of crude, but effective pit traps. He’s trying to catch the boar. The pits are hidden by a few branches (4 in 6 chance of spotting it). Each pit is about 12’ deep with spikes at the bottom. Falling damage is 1d4 due to the soft earth, but if the player get impaled by a spike (2 in 6 chance) it causes 2d6 damage.

4. Giant Boar

Off the path the party hears loud snorting and huffing. A squeal erupts, and the under branches shatter as a giant boar smashes through and charges the party.

Giant Boar: HD 6+1; HP 30; AC 4 [15]; Atk gore (3d6); Move 15; Save 11; AL N; CL/XP 1/15; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Continues to fight for 2 rounds after it is ‘killed’.

The boar weights over 500lbs and if the meat is processed correctly, it can be sold for 2sp/pound. The pair of large tusks can be sold as a novelty/trophy item for 50sp.

5. Sleeping Ogre

The party comes to a ridge and they hear the loud snoring. Beneath a rocky outcropping is a sleeping ogre. The ogre is faking. He’s hoping to lure the party into another trap. He holds a rope that triggers six logs to tumble onto the trail. The logs attack as a 5HD creature and do 2d6 damage. The ogre will attack as soon as he releases his trap.

Ogre: HD 4+1; HP 20; AC 4[15]; Atk scimitar (1d10+1); Move 9; Save 13; AL C; CL/XP 4/120; Special: None. 

The ogre is armed with a crude scimitar and made a shield from the side of a horse cart. If he feels he may lose the battle, he will run for a tree he has tied down. He will lay on the tree, cut the rope and catapult himself on top of the ridge to escape (target roll of 12 (using a d20), if he misses he hits the side of the ridge taking 2d4 damage). There is one large sack made from a deer hide. Inside the party will find 23sp and 17cp loose, a small metal coffer (locked) with 100sp inside, two silver rings (10sp) and a silver ring with a ruby (50sp), a longsword, two wood axes and a battered helm.

Artist Spotlight: Yuri Perkowski Domingos

 

I've decided to start a new series on my blog called Artist Spotlight. I'll feature an artist I've used in my adventures or someone's whose work I enjoy. I'm a bit of a stockart junkie so I shouldn't run out any time soon. The links to DriveThru are affiliate links to help me with my stockart addiction. 

Which brings me to my first artist, Yuri Perkowski Domingos. For those of you who don't know I run a Facebook group called RPG Zines. I wanted to create a cool space for people writing zines, creating artwork, and all the behind the scenes magic like layout and editing. That's where I first saw Yuri's work. I mean come on, a rot grub picture gets me every time. 

Yuri brings an intense amount of detail to his pieces. His work jumps off the page. He has several pieces that include horrible things that happen to adventures, like our poor man-at-arms above, but also some crazy cool monsters and architectural pieces.

I love this one. If Joey Ramone was a troll this is exactly what he would look like. 

I used his lighthouse piece for my cover on my Lighthouse of  Corban Cove micro-location. It immediately invoked a desperate community living off of tired traditions to remain intact. That's what I look for. Pieces that tell me a story. 

Yuri has a fantastic selection of work to inspire your next adventure, your next zine, or whatever your working on. If you need strong artwork you can find Yuri on DriveThruRPG (I still call it RPGNow). His prices are affordable. You can pick up a lot for just a few bucks. His prices range from $1 to $3 with a few at $5. Most are at $2. 

Allow me to make a suggestion, his 38 Creature Pack is only $20! You get, yes, 38 creatures of varying horribleness, but you also get two versions of each, one with a white background and the other with a transparent background. As a publisher this saves me time having to create one. 

Here are links to Yuri's other internet presences. Follow Yuri to keep up with his latest work. 

ArtStation

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Hunters in Death Available in Print!!!!

Where are the hunters going?

USA $10.00 USD Rest of the World $13.00 USD

Now that the Kickstarter has been fulfilled I've got a few copies of Hunters in Death available for sale for those who missed out. When you buy a print copy make sure to add your email that you use for DriveThruRPG so I can send you a coupon for a free PDF. Paypal sends me an email automatically, but if your DriveThruRPG account is connected to a different email let me know.

Here is a video by Joe where he gives an overview of Hunters in Death. 

Thanks!

Hunters in Death PDF Now Available on DriveThru RPG

 

I posted Hunters in Death for sale on DriveThruRPG. I haven't posted anything new on the site for years. It was interesting navigating the new setup. I think it they improved the process. How do I know? I didn't swear once. Now that's an improvement. 

For those who don't know, Hunters in Death was my first Kickstarter. I spent a lot of time on this and had a lot of great help. It is filled with artwork from Jim Magnusson. I love his style and it fits the aesthetic I was look for. 

It's 32 pages with additional front and back covers. The first section is a description and particulars of the hex crawl of the Komor Forest, and Hounds Head, a hamlet as a base. Second section focuses on the large random table for travelers in the Komor Forest. To create random barrow mounds that populate the area. Then three adventures to test your party's mettle. 

If you are interested you can grab Hunters in Death on DriveThruRPG. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and if you purchase the PDF, double thanks!

My First Kickstarter Experience

In the Beginning

I started this in January of 2020. Kickstarter promoted their 2nd annual Zine Quest. I remember reading about the first one, but didn't get my shit together quick enough to take advantage of it. I mean Zine Quest is built specifically for someone like myself. A small game publisher with help from friends with little to no money having a time of it. I'd never attempted a Kickstarter. I'm always looking for different ways to share my stuff. But Kickstarter was intimidating. It had brought larger and more popular publishers to their knees. I'm not talking about the scammers, the folks that honestly wanted to write a gaming book and get it out into the public. I told Ivy what I planned and she helped me get my head wrapped around the process. 

The Concept

I dug up a concept I wanted to develop a few years back, Hunters in Death. I wanted to flesh out a hex crawl with an array of adventures that were discovered more then hooked into. Because these adventures shared an area with the other adventures there were connections. Also, during travels there were hints, some subtle, some obvious, of a nasty evil that lurked in the Komor Forest. The idea of the big bad was present through out, but not fully realized until their source was discovered. 

Getting My Art Guy

When Zine Quest 2 reared its head I jumped in with with the idea of Hunters in Death. I already had the setting mostly written. I'll come back to this later. I contacted Jim Magnusson for one of his killer pieces. I wanted to start with a killer cover. Jim delivered. His cover was a huge part of the success of the campaign. I hired Jim to do all the art for the zine to keep a cohesive theme. Jim thankfully agreed. Check out the cover and back cover. I thought the quote from Ernest Hemingway was perfect for the zine's concept. 

Still love it even after looking at it constantly for the last nine months. 

The Write Up for Hunters in Death

First off, I needed to write the information about Hunters and Death and what it was about. The concept. Sometimes I write things as if the reader is supposed to know what I'm talking about. And they don't. Ivy kept nudging me to rewrite it. It didn't sound like me. I hate when she says that. First, because that means I needed to rewrite it again. Second, because she's right. After doing as much as I could do with it, Joethelawyer volunteered to give it a much needed edit. Not only did he clean it up, he injected it with a big dose of steroids. His help was also a huge part of the success of Hunters in Death.

Figuring Out Pledge Levels and Pricing

I wanted to keep it simple. A pledge level for the PDF. A pledge level for both the print copy and PDF. Done. I get annoyed at multiple pledge levels. They confuse the shit out of me. But then there was the matter of pricing. Here was my math with no science or research involved. 

I figured I'd get 50 to 100 people to pledge. So I averaged it at 75 who'd take an interest in my zine. I went back and forth on my goal. I started thinking I should have a $1000 pledge level. So that meant the average pledge needed to be at $13.33. That wasn't going to happen. I finally settled on my PDFs at $4 and Print copies w/PDF at $8. In my head I figured a third would want PDF only and two-thirds print. So using my mind bending logic...

From PDFs I estimated: $100

From print I estimated: $400

Boom! Done. I set my goal at $500. I felt comfortable that I could hit that. And like Ivy said, if you don't reach your goal you'll still do it. She was right. Again. 

The Launch

There was some discussion before hand of when to launch. Zine Quest is run in February and could run for 14 days. Some took the strategy of waiting, to allow some of the deluge of zines to subside. I wanted to get involve as soon as I could. And I am glad I did. It seemed as the month went on more zines kept coming in. Plus, people's wallets aren't endless so I wanted to be in the front of the zine mall. Not in the back.

I was in the first batch of zines in Zine Quest 2. Not only that, Kickstarter selected me as one of their favorites. So my campaign spent a significant time one the front page. 

1st Day

The first day of the launch was on a Sunday. I was glad because if it was Monday, I would have missed a lot of the excitement. My expectations were shattered before the first day was over. It...was...fantastic. I whooshed passed my goal by a bunch.

The Campaign

It was a hell of a ride. While I was at work friends were texting me when I'd hit a pledge or backer milestone. By the end of the campaign I had nearly 600 backers and nearly $5300. While of course seeing the money is good to see, I admit I was more interested in the number of backers. Wow.

What I Didn't Know

When I created my pledges I had people pay for their postage. A $2 mailing charge for US backers and $4 for the rest of the world. When Kickstarter collected their pledge they counted the shipping into the pledge total. I wouldn't do it like that again. It makes sense that Kickstarter would want this to happen. First, it increases the chances of campaigns to fund and second, they get a bigger slice. But knowing this now. Yeah, I won't include shipping in pledges.

Realization

I decided at the beginning I was going to print all the zines at home. I have a Patreon where I print about 60 to 120 zines a month. To put it in perspective though those are usually one page, folded zines. 

Hunters in Death is a cover and 8 pages. With contributor copies and backers I needed to print 450 copies. And I wanted to print an extra 50 for those damaged during mailing and selling for those who missed the Kickstarter. That's 4500 pages that needed printing. Without mistakes. 

I needed to order more paper...and a lot more ink.

Don't Go For Cheap Ink

I'd been using this cheaper ink on Amazon for a while. I had a single Epson cartridge left. It looked so much better. So no cheap ink. I think we burned through eighteen cartridges. I lost count. It was worth it. Made the zine look much better.

Editor

Back to Joe. My editor for this project. After figuring out details Joe really helped hone Hunters in Death. He was quick to get back to me. He was as enthusiastic about the project as I was. His contribution was invaluable. And he tried to sneak in his character as much as possible. A little Easter egg, you'll find Joe's guy in there twice. A big thanks to Joe.

Ivy

Ivy supported me through the entire process, but she really got this project done. First of all she is the one who made me do read thrus when I didn't want to. And each damn time I'd find something I could tweak to make better. "Yes, this is good, but you can make it better." And we did. 

She took over the entire production process. I was struggling with getting the zine to print properly. I have been using MS Publisher for a long time. And it was dropping pictures randomly. I'd print ten copies and the last two would have a picture missing. Or drop the last sentences in text cells. Frustrating me to the point I was ready to punch my printer into pieces. I am not exaggerating about this part. She came up with another way to do the printing process and we switch programs to Affinity Publisher. No more problems with pictures or sentences coming up missing. She pulled all-nighters printing and assembling the zines. 

Then she helped organize the mailing. Much better than I ever would have. At the end I ended up getting sick (I know, a Kickstarter creator cliche), and she got the postage taken care of the delivered it to the post. 

Amazing lady.

Aftermath

440 some copies of Hunters in Death are now spread across the globe to 33 different countries. I still have about five people I don't have addresses for. I'll try one last time to reach out to get them their zine. I'm taking a break from it for a while. Then I'll put the PDF for sale on RPGDriveThru and offer the print copies I have left for those who missed the Kickstarter. 

Conclusion 

I have nothing to complain about. I learned a ton from the process. I'm glad I did Zine Quest and will probably do it again and do Kickstarters in general again. So many people were supportive and their excitement helped me get it done. So you'll see future projects from me, but not right now. A little time to breathe.

Kickstarter: For Coin & Blood 2nd Edition

Another Kickstarter I wanted to bring to your attention. Gallant Knight Games has written a second edition to Coin & Blood RPG. It's already written, artwork is done, and as soon as the KS campaign is done it looks like the PDF version is ready to go. 

One of the things I like about this Kickstarter is the simplicity of their pledges. One for PDF at $10 and one for print and PDF at $25. The print version comes with a hardcover they ship and the PDF. And now at both pledge levels you you get a POD coupon for a B&W softcover copy through DriveThruRPG. You can't beat those pledge prices. 

Here are a few excerpts from the campaign text to get you interested in taking a look.

Playing assassins, cult leaders, blackguards and more, For Coin & Blood is a different look at the other side of the coin of fantasy roleplaying games.

While most roleplaying games hide their murderers under the mantle of “hero” (I mean, what “hero” invades underground complexes in search of treasure and murders the denizens because their whole species is “evil?”), For Coin & Blood makes no pretenses about what it asks you to be. You’re the villains that other campaigns fight. You’re the cult leaders, assassins, fallen nobles, murderers, mercenaries, necromancers and thugs.

If that doesn't interest you I have no idea what you're doing reading my blog. I grabbed the first edition when it came out and like the concepts. Plundered the books for the ideas I could put into my campaign which wasn't that difficult since I have a similar philosophy. I'm looking forward to what the second edition For Coin & Blood has to offer. You've got less than 2 days to get on this! Go!

Kickstarter: The Majestic Fantasy RPG

 

So there is this guy, let's call him Rob, because that's his name. He's got this Kickstarter. It's called the Majestic Fantasy RPG. It's a standalone RPG & supplement for Swords & Wizardry. It covers 1st thru 5th levels. 

Rob and I have been friends for more years than I can count. I've played in all his variations of his campaign through the years. Basic, AD&D, GURPS, a brief stint of 3.0, Runequest, and most recently 5th edition D&D. I'm sure he snuck in Harn for a few weeks. 

This version however is his own creation. One where he's taken his decades of experience of running his campaign and solidifying it into a system that uses Swords & Wizardry as the chassis. I've  had the pleasure of seeing his system develop and play in games to try out the different rules and they work. They work fantastically well. Many of his ideas I've adapted for my own game. 

He's got 5 days left as of this writing. I hope if you haven't you consider joining his campaign. The buy in price is low at $8 for the PDF and $12 for the print. In addition you get a coupon to get a print version of Blackmarch which is the BEST hex crawl product out there. I'm bias, but I know my hex crawls also. 

The Majestic Fantasy RPG Basic Rules is waiting for you.  

Zine Tools: Affinity Publisher

I don't normally do these type of posts, but I think this one is called for. Anyone who knows me can attest to my ability to FUBAR programs/electronics/computers is nearly godlike. After my battle with Microsoft Publisher with my Hunters in Death Kickstarter, I jumped over to Affinity Publisher.

Ivy took over the printing process and used Affinity Publisher I was amazed at how much better it printed. It was a significant difference. Not to mention my frustration with MS Publisher dropping last sentences in table cells or randomly deleting artwork from my layout. I couldn't keep track of what it would do next to fuck up my zine. With Affinity, I...Ivy had none of those issues. 

As part of my initiation into Affinity Publisher I needed to do one of my micro-adventures. So I did. I found plenty of YouTube videos to assist me on my journey. And I finished my first one tonight. I'll do a read through tomorrow then release it.

One of the things I loved about the program is you can seamlessly go between Affinity Publisher to Affinity Photo to make adjustments. They have a third program called Affinity Designer which I have no idea what it does, but I'm sure it's great.

Price point? $50. Yup. You own it at $50. The other two are $50 each also. They have sales from time to time. So you could possibly get them cheaper. Here is a link to the site. I am not affiliated with Affinity in any way. Unless I have some long lost relative working there, but I probably wouldn't like them any way. Oh, the link...Affinity and Beyond!

Kickstarter Alert!! Phylactery 2

During this year's Zinequest Levi Combs of Planet X Games, Kickstarted The Phylactery. He kicked ass. He promised an Old School Heroic Zine and that's exactly what he delivered. Now he's doing a second issue, Phylactery 2, and this time he promising...

OSR-inspired material that is unavailable anywhere else, giving you an entire cover-to-cover zine devoted strictly to cool new adventures, quirky NPCs, wondrous magical items, marauding  monsters, fell locations, relics from beyond the mists of time and all sorts of heroic fantasy resources for your tabletop games.

This Kickstarter has four days left of this writing. Head over there and read about it for yourself. There is a lot of tantalizing details about its content and the amazing art.

And just to tempt you more, here's a sample from the first issue. Prepare to get pissed off if you didn't get a copy. Don't make the same mistake twice!

Joethelawyer interview Rob Conley and myself today. He's been wanting to do this for about a year ever since he figured out Rob and I have been friends for about 40 years.

Here's the Anchor link to Joe's podcast, No-So-Wondrous Imaginings. If you have a podcatcher I suggest listening to it on that. Anchor tends to suck.

Rob and I discuss our gaming history together. There is a lot of back pats and appreciation going on, but it's honest. Rob is good people and a good friend. And so is Joe. It was a fun interview. I learned a couple of things I didn't know.

I hope you give it a listen. And consider listening to Joe's other podcasts with his brother. They're hilarious. These two sit around a fire, drinking and smoking pot talking about D&D like excited 11 year-olds.

Hunters in Death is Done!

I put the final touches on Hunters in Death this morning. A final look through with fresh eyes. I can easily say this is the most work I've ever put into a writing project. Without my editors Joe and my wife Ivy and their persistence of wanting to go through it again, it wouldn't have turned out so damn good. They wanted it to be the best I could do. I'm glad I listened to them. 

The PDFs were sent to all those who pledged.

I've already begun the printing process. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to print from home. I'm printing 500 copies. I timed my printer, it takes 5 minutes and 15 seconds to print one copy. So after 43 hours and 45 minutes of printing, that's without mistakes, jams, or other creative things my printer likes to do, all the copies will be done. So guess what I'm doing this weekend?

I have about 450 copies spoken for. Once I get everyone's shipped I'll put the remaining copies up for sale. 

That's all for now. My printer needs my attention.