Two Year Anniversary

Here is a new piece I've completed for my upcoming module, Extra Stout.

It's been two years since I started this blog.  Along the way I've published 382 posts, enjoyed 60,000 page views, and have 125 followers.  I have published three for-sale modules, and am just about ready to publish my fourth.  I've also completed and posted nearly 100 original pieces of gaming art, much like the piece above.

I'm happy to see that my layout hasn't changed much, nor has my focus.  Looking over my content, I see the great majority is fantasy based.  There is a nice balance between monsters, maps, and special items.  I imagine this trend will continue into 2013.

Beyond my next adventure module, Extra Stout, I don't have many specific plans for the blog.  Sure, I have several ideas bouncing around my head, but nothing I've committed to yet.  I might do a few reviews, or start a Monday Game regular post.  I also have some pictures ideas, but, again, nothing specific yet.

To my Constant Readers, much thanks!  To my customers, also, much thanks!  All of the money I have made (and much more, besides!) from my adventures has been re-invested into the role-playing community.  I promise to do the same with any future monies made in similar endeavors.

Cheers!

Holy Crap!

I got a lot done in two hours!

My daughter got sick today, so I had to call off work and stay home.  She ended up sleeping a couple of hours and I took the opportunity complete some artwork for my upcoming Labyrinth Lord adventure.  I got a lot done, check out a few choice pieces below.  The first draft is at the editor now.  As soon as I get it back, I'll revise and begin work on layout.  I should be able to hit my deadline of October 31.

Cheers!


Foamy Beer
Pretty Barmaid
Bed & Boar Sign
Silver Squares
Theda (NPC)
Geruch (NPC)
Espen (NPC)
Ellisen (NPC)
Arjan (NPC)
Nude Elf
Monastery Entrance
Warrior Tasting Beer
Stairwell w/Blood
Female Dwarf Necklace
Caverns
Mushrooms
Barricaded "Keep Out" Sign
Magic Book
Barrel Beast
Beer Elemental
Burpee
Cave Bats
Lady Lamprey
Rauch Boar
Ragnocchio
Durjaya
Rock Grub
Shining Salamander
Yeast Slime
Empty Glass

More Extra Stout Art

I'm still working on my art for Extra Stout while the first draft is at the editor.  Below are a few sketches I've done over the past couple of days.  I don't think I'll use them... maybe the mushrooms.


Foamy Beer
Pretty Barmaid
Bed & Boar Sign
Silver Squares
Theda (NPC)
Geruch (NPC)
Espen (NPC)
Ellisen (NPC)
Arjan (NPC)
Nude Elf
Monastery Entrance
Warrior Tasting Beer
Stairwell w/Blood
Female Dwarf Necklace
Caverns
Mushrooms
Barricaded "Keep Out" Sign
Magic Book
Barrel Beast
Beer Elemental
Burpee
Cave Bats
Lady Lamprey
Rauch Boar
Ragnocchio
Durjaya
Rock Grub
Shining Salamander
Yeast Slime
Empty Glass

This one is just too dark, I think.

I'm on the fence about using this one.
Perhaps I need to add some more shading...

Espen, the monk.  This is a bad drawing, but it captures the aesthetic I was shooting for.

I took a real mushroom species and modified it to make the famous Mountain Mushrooms!
(For some reason, I had the Smurfs theme running through my head drawing it.)

Monday's Game

Monday's big fight.  Photograph by Dylan Hartwell 2012.

I'm not in the habit of detailing the exploits of my weekly Dark Heresy game session here on this blog. Even though I enjoy it immensely and have played consistently every Monday for nearly three years, I find myself blogging about my old-school D&D products and ideas with more enjoyment.  Also, Games Workshop is well known for it's aggressive content control, so I'm not as comfortable uploading GW products as I am D&D through the OGL.  I may make a quick post like this one, however, to remind my readers that I play both new-school and old-school.

On Dark Heresy:  While I seriously dislike the massive character sheets and high-level combat crunch of Dark Heresy, I love the detailed world and beautiful books.  Their production value is exceedingly high.  Of course, you pay for that with a higher sticker price.

My gaming buddy rolls well... much to disappointment of the GM.

New Illustrations

I'm working hard on my new game:  THE BLASPHEMOUS BREWERY OF PILZ:  EXTRA STOUT EDITION.  Having sent my rough draft to the editor, I'm now focusing all my efforts on the illustrations.  The list below is what I hope to achieve and what I've achieved so far in order of appearance in the game.  If an item has strikethrough, it's done. 

Note:  These illustrations do not include my six maps.

Foamy Beer
Pretty Barmaid
Bed & Boar Sign
Silver Squares
Theda (NPC)
Geruch (NPC)
Espen (NPC)
Ellisen (NPC)
Arjan (NPC)
Nude Elf
Monastery Entrance
Warrior Tasting Beer
Stairwell w/Blood
Female Dwarf Necklace
Caverns
Mushrooms
Barricaded "Keep Out" Sign
Magic Book
Barrel Beast
Beer Elemental
Burpee
Cave Bats
Lady Lamprey
Rauch Boar
Ragnocchio
Durjaya
Rock Grub
Shining Salamander
Yeast Slime
Empty Glass

As you can see, I am exactly halfway finished with the illustrations.

For those of you who are relatively new readers, you may not know that one of my goals in my publications is to use only my own artwork and my own writing.  It's not that I crave control or have a big ego, it's just that I make more holistically consistent products this way.  Plus... I enjoy it.

And now, back to work!

Cheers!

Rough Draft & New Art Done!

1. Brainstorm
2. Rough Draft
3. Print and Self Edit
4. Revise
5. External Edit (not me)
6. Revise
7. Layout
8. Print and Self Edit
9. Revise
10. External Edit
11. Revise
12. Publish

The most time-consuming part of publishing a Labyrinth Lord module is now finished.  I printed the rough draft earlier today and worked on editing.  I plan on revising over the weekend, then sending it out to the editor.

Here is my new drawing of a special monster in my new adventure!

For comparison, the image below is the original monster drawing.  As you can see, I'm striving for a different feel this time around.

This is similar to my treatment of the famous Burpee.

Publishing Flowchart & Hot Chick D&D Artwork

As my readers know, I'm working on my next publication.  It's a Labyrinth Lord adventure based on beer.  This is my fourth published product and today, as I was listening to the awesome new The Killers album, I realized that each time I've followed the same process.  I didn't plan it that way.  It just, kind of happened naturally.

1. Brainstorm
2. Rough Draft
3. Print and Self Edit
4. Revise
5. External Edit (not me)
6. Revise
7. Layout
8. Print and Self Edit
9. Revise
10. External Edit
11. Revise
12. Publish

Throughout steps 1-11 I am working on art.  I often find myself removing artwork at the last minute to make a pleasing layout.  It's kind of a heartache.

Here is a piece I've picked up off the cutting room floor more than once.

And speaking of artwork, I've got a few cheesecake pictures that I prevaricate on whether or not to include.  My first priority, when writing, is to please myself and I sure as heck like me some cheesecake.

However.

I'm also writing for others and several readers have posted negative comments over the years when I publish stuff like this:

As of now, I'm leaning towards not including artwork like the second piece above.  Not because I really want to and feel an external pressure, but because I, myself, think it's beyond the general theme of what I'm going for.  I don't want to publish stuff that needs to be closed when kids come in to the room.

I know I'm not talking about full-on nudity.  All of my racier pictures, by any stretch of the imagination, are PG-13 AT BEST.  Still... I'm not sure whether to include even that.

What do you think?

Map: Cavern 5 and Dungeon 6

I'm working on my next for-sale adventure and it's getting longer and more detailed than I ever imagined that it would.  Originally I had two original monsters.  Now I'm at ten.  Originally, the brewery map was one level.  Now it's the four you see below.  There are other changes, too.  As I've said before, this isn't so much as a re-make, but a completely new game with a few similar themes and names.

It's still called THE BLASPHEMOUS BREWERY OF PILZ:  EXTRA STOUT EDITION, but it resembles the original less and less as time goes by.

The maps below are outline scans.  I've filled most of them in with illustration and helpful detail.  Overall, it ended up being thirty room descriptions because I bundled four rooms together.  I'm still on track to have it published by Halloween 2012.

Cheers.

Cavern (dungeon sub-level 1).

Dungeon level 1.

Dungeon level 2.

Dungeon level 3.

Gencon Haul

I bought the following at Gencon this year:

• Blizzard Pass (D&D module)
• The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachen (D&D module)
• It Came From The Late Late Late Show (horror rpg)
• Munchkin Quest (dungeon tile adventure game)
• Queen of the Demonweb Pits (D&D module)
• Skippy's Revenge (horror card game)
• T-Shirt:  "Paladins.  Always a douchebag."

Not a huge haul, but plenty to read.  I always buy a t-shirt, too.  I used to buy the con shirt, but now I prefer something a little more edgy.

I bought most of these items from the auction where I could get them used and therefore far cheaper than the list price.  Sure, there was a lot in the dealers room I wanted to buy.  However, I find myself usually turning to eBay and RPGNow for my products these days.

This Robot Will Chase You Down

Imagine this chassis mounted with a lasgun chasing your butt down in Mutant Future or Cyberpunk 2020.

Google +

I started wondering... why stop with beer?

I'm in.  Kind of.  Instead of jumping all in, I've made a new Google account to test the water as such.  My first step is to get the hang of most of the features.  Secondly, I need to get my mind around FLAILSNAIL character creation and rules.  Third, I want to play in a few games.  Finally, and this is if I can get my act together, I want to start running games in a hangout.

Oh, and I'm still hard at work on THE BLASPHEMOUS BREWERY OF PILZ:  EXTRA STOUT EDITION.  I went to a beer tasting to get inspired and... let's just say after a brief nap I'm still a bit fuzzy-headed, but pleasantly so.  The adventure has taken a few unexpected twists and turns from my perspective as the author, but, much like my fuzzy hangover, quite pleasant in some ways.  I never planned to bring in so many of my past unpublished products, but it kind of flowed that way.  In some cases, literally.  Wait.

Maybe something is wrong with me.

Anyway, I'll be seeing some of you in Google + land if I can find you.  I'll be using my old Digital Orc drawing as a profile picture for a bit (see below).  At least until I decide to either jump in full bore, delete my account altogether, or experience some other outcome I can't foresee at the moment.

I am all ears (Until they get chopped off by a angry elf, that is.  Or by a commentor still angry about my upskirt drawing of elven barmaids... sigh.) for any sort of Google + advice you can fling my way.  No really, I need it.

Cheers.

Oh.  My head.  Too many Belgian pale ales.

Map Design & Play

Another piece I did for Extra Stout.

I debated whether to title this post "Story Design & Play" when I came to the conclusion that:  Map IS Story.  In designing my current megadungeon, Extra Stout, I made sure to create multiple entrances and exits that each offer a unique perspective on what's happening inside and their own host of game issues to resolve.  I also created the entrances with specific abilities in mind.  For example, my megadungeon has three entrances:  One that only a thief can enter, one for a fighter, and one for a dwarf.

I try to do something similar with story elements on the map.  In Extra Stout the backstory is critical.  There are various parts of the story that are both important and valuable.  By this I mean that they lead both directly and indirectly to XP through treasure and monsters.  I created several ways that characters can learn certain story elements, both through killing and interrogation, investigation, and random chance.  This is different than railroading.  Instead, it's casting a net that is both large and fine.

Hopefully I catch a keeper.

Rough draft of megadungeon level 4.

Extra Stout: Glowing Salamander

I'm still working on the Extra Stout version of PILZ!  In so doing, I'm trading off between working on the text and working on the art.  Layout is further down the road.  At this point, both the PDF and print version is on track to be ready for purchase by Halloween this year!

I'm alternating artwork and composing because it gives my brain a nice break.  Writing for one or two hours every day for several days in a row eventually deteriorates into unimaginative writing.  The same is sometimes true for artwork, so a nice solution is to stagger these activities that use somewhat different parts of the brain.

Below is a picture I finished during Gencon of a new baddie:  The Glowing Salamander.  Only one of my Gencon game session groups was able to find them.  When they did they ran away after one or two rounds of combat with the dwarf in the party... let us say, somewhat changed.

My DM Screen

At Gencon this year I ran several games of my BLASPHEMOUS BREWERY OF PILZ! Labyrinth Lord module.  Overall, I'm fairly happy with how they turned out.  There are clearly areas for improvement, but most of my players presented a fairly positive affect during and after the three-hour session.

Of all the stupid stuff I did, such as using Playdough and beer bottlecaps in the game, it was my DM screen that got the most attention.  I even had several people from other games in the room come over at different times just to tell me how much they liked it.  So, I thought you might get a kick out of it, too.

My view.

The player's view.

It actually holds up on the function end fairly well.  Since I kept all the cardboard intact, it's a fairly robust piece of equipment.  Plus, when I spill my beer all over it, I just make a new one.  In fact, I'm starting a large-scale production of these wonderful DM screens in my basement.

At least.  That's what I tell my wife.

Speaking of beer and PILZ!, I am hard at work on the Extra Stout version.  At this point, the incomplete draft is at twelve pages size twelve font in Word.  I also have completed and scanned over eight original pieces of artwork, drawn just for Extra Stout, some of which I've already posted on this blog.  The map outlines and scans are fully finished as well!  My target length is 50-75 pages crammed full of original artwork within the same style.  There will be at least six original monsters and six maps included.  I will sell both PDF and print through RPGNow.  Price point is yet to be determined.

Cheers!

I Dreamt of Gencon

Me at Gencon with another Con Babe.

It's not even a month since I've returned and I look at my pile of books purcased at Gencon and wonder... was it all a dream?



That's OK if it was, you know.  Dreams can be wonderful inspiration for literature... and gaming.

Dreams in gaming, however, is another matter.  I imagine they wouldn't work too well because they add yet another layer of reality.  Maybe a quick synopsis from the GM if the character has a relevant one, otherwise I generally stay away from them as in-game tools.

Or.

Imagine using a different set of mechanics for dreaming in a game-world.  Perhaps character stats are reversed, but the GM doesn't let on.  Mabye all rolls are less impacted by character attributes than by character alignment or history.  This would be particularly interesting if a monster/wizard encounter cast sleep or dream on a player and they had to fight out of the dream world...

Hmm.

I bet five dollars someone has already published something like this, I just don't know about it.  (Or I read/own it and have forgotten it in my waking memory.)

Wil Wheaton

My game set-up at Gencon.
Notice playdough and bottle half-full of vodka tonic.
The skull beer mug is full of bottle caps which were used as an in-game token.

Of Hobbit Feet & Film

My daughter and I waded Lake Erie the other day.  Cool breeze, few people, and soothing wave after wave distracted us for hours.  After splashing about for a while I happened to glance down and was startled to see she had grown hobbit feet!

In all seriousness, though, I am very excited about Jackson's upcoming The Hobbit.  While I'm reluctant to take my 3 year-old to see it, I plan on reading it to her at night when she can sit still long enough.  From what I understand, Tolkien himself developed this seminal novel, in part, as an oral freestyle storytelling to his child at bedtime. If so, that's pretty neat.