Adventures at GenCon 2019: Day 2, Part II

So where was I... Oh yes! I completed several hours of booth service for Goodman Games then ran No Small Crimes in Lankhmar and by that time it would be around 7pm and I would have been up for over 12 hours at that point I believe.

Between the Lankhmar game and my next session I ate an 8 hour old cup of noodles. (Total noodle cup count would now be at 5? Anyways, I had a great talk with one of my players whilst I hungrily scarfed down my noodles. (Later that night he shared some find moonshine with me). Soon though it was time to play Sky ov Crimson Flame!

Sky ov Crimson Flame!

How many times have I ran this adventure? I mean... I know I wrote it, but jeez... Anyways, I never get tired of, because every since it's released I do something different, try new scenarios, invent new rooms, etc. Technically I count all this as "play-testing" for the eventually 2nd printing release, where I plan to go through a "George Lucas" the shit out of it. (Well maybe not as much as Lucas might, but you get the idea!).

This session was ran from 8pm-Midnight and only 3 of my 6 players showed up, which was kind of a bummer, but we made due as I provided the characters with extra cannon fodder, I mean... PCs. The adventure went down as it always does with the Death Stamp glowing red hot as I killed up characters left and right. 

When it came to the crossing of the Rocky Mount, the players chose to go left. In the book this means an attack from more Head-bats, which in retrospect I wish I would have changed. Instead I opted for an attack from a creature in the back of the module called the Cherub Spider, which entangled one of the PCs in its sticky intestinal webbing. It was a dire situation, but these players were smart and survived with a bit of brains and lucky rolls. 

Later they fault against the Corrupted Flesh which was an intense battle between the book shelves and causes quite a mess, allowing one PC to get utlra HD infra-vision, which unfortunately for them meant they could focus on every detail of this nasty flesh monster (including the swaying sagging ball sack!) which put them in a rage! In the end they over came the creature only to be stumped by the Soul Chamber, which is just a trap room, and killed off about 5 party members.

Later, as they headed up the sloping hall towards the courtyard of the keep, they encounter a Ghost Knight and some great role playing along with some good die rolls had the Ghost Knight joining their party!

The Crimson Witch at the top of the tower couldn't complete her ritual as one of the PCs (the one who controlled the ghost and now believed himself to be the King of the Keep) sacrificed himself by tackling the witch so fiercely that they both plummeted to the rocks below!

What a session! I had a blast, they had a blast, and those three people that didn't show up missed out on all the fun! Oh well!

More GenCon recaps to come!

Remember you can purchase Sky ov Crimson Flame right here!

Free RPG Day 2019

What Ho Adventurers!

Free RPG Day is almost upon us and I Thorin "Son Ov Thrain" Thompson will be running DCC-RPG at Raven Nest Games (688 Whitlock Ave NW #400, Marietta, GA 30064) starting around Noon!

Of course I'll be running my 0-level adventure Sky ov Crimson Flame because, y'know, I sure as hell can't seem to finish the next adventure module! (Hahaha... oh...)

If you're in Atlanta and have the time, and are brave (or foolish) enough, come join the game!

On Writing, Part II

Whew... So this has been a long time coming... I've been riding the wave of life as it were. So without further ado let's continue my retrospective look into the writing of Sky ov Crimson Flame. In Part I I discussed what first led me to write and the developments in some of the major characters. In this segment, I'll be discussing (or probably just rambling on about) the design of the Keep and the over all story development, plus monsters!

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read Sky ov Crimson Flame then press no further!

Designing a Dungeon:

As must surely be common knowledge now, Sky ov Crimson Flame is my first major published work in the tabletop gaming realm. Before that I wrote a small piece called The Fell Mountain for Mythoard (Sept, 2015) and before that I merely designed my own adventures for my household games.

Growing up I played mainly 1st & 2nd Editions of AD&D and didn't read many adventure modules. When 3rd Edition showed up I shunned it (probably in part because my old man is a die hard THAC0 guy and in turn I was created in his likeness). It wasn't really until I got deep into the OSR that I finally read a bunch of adventure modules and those mainly of the DCC RPG variety. Long story short, I was doing some diligent research before I ever sat a finger to the keyboard.

Now my original plan was to make something simple, throw it to the wolves and see what became of it, but once I got to writing the adventure grew from a tiny keep with maybe 4 rooms to a much larger affair. When writing, I usually keep a list of things I want to see: a crazy witch, a falling red star, a resurrection of some sort, a necromaner. Those were the four many things for Sky ov Crimson Flame anyways. It was from that list I started tying the story and keep's design together.

In one of the drafts I began this idea that the Crimson Star falls early on in the adventure and from its flames the Keep grows into the massive tower that is reminiscent of the Necromancer's from another world or his past. The PCs would literally be walking on flagstones of fore to defeat the Necromancer before X event happened.

It was getting out of hand... So I toned the story back a little. That's how I write I guess, just vomit everything out onto the keyboard and see what sticks and what needs to scrapped into the trash.

I knew I wanted the players to enter the Keep from the bottom up and so devised ways in which to get them to that point, but always with the mindset of replay-ability. If you've read the adventure you know there are several sections where choices in path must be made or random items are found. This is kind of staple I'm sticking to while writing the next adventure, is it replayable? Would people actually want to run through this crazy thing a second or third time?

So if I were to dish out any sort of advice it's: Is it replayable? Is it too big and does it boggle down the story you're actually trying to convey? If so, trim that sucker down!

Read-Aloud Text:

Looking back on my read-aloud text I wish I had trimmed them down a little more. They seem a bit heavy-handed now and hard to read to a table. I know why... I was trying really hard to invoke a true sense of the horror and macabre in every scene and when I read it aloud to myself at my desk it sounded too cool for school! As I've found out though, that doesn't always work when you trying to read three paragraphs of text to table of gamers. Secretly I must want to be a novelist... I'll do better next time folks :-p!

Table-Time:

The amount of time it takes to play the adventure was major concern of mine as I wanted it to be ran at conventions, etc. I started combining rooms together or taking out whole chunks that just bogged down play. The adventure must keep some momentum if the players are to have fun

The library area in Sky ov Crimson Flame is a major section that can slow play down in the adventure, but only if the players want it to and so it's really on them. If they want to get the hell out of there and to the next area they can do so with a bit of figuring out. 

My two cents: Write the adventure so it only slows down if the players decide to slow it down. Otherwise keep it movin'!

Monsters!

Yeah buddy, good monsters are a major factor to good adventure and I tired (and constantly keep trying) to come up with weirdos to fight. DCC RPG, being the wonderful tome it is, was inspiration enough. The corrupting effects of magic lead directly to the Corrupted Flesh and helped round out the Necromancer's past. 

The opening scene for Evil Dead II was a major influence on the Cherub Head-bats, the fact they are baby faces and not skulls just added to the creep factor. Lovecraft and Moorcock were heavy influences for the randomly generated things that can happen in the Nexus Between Worlds. I can't remember how the Shambling Flesh monster came about, because originally the PCs just fault a bunch a cultists towards the end. Perhaps that concept bored me and I just changed it one day...

This is probably a big, "No, Duh!" but try to come up with original monsters. It's too easy to copy and past from a monster book. No lazy writing for you!

Well that's all I have for today folks. I'm not sure if you find any of this insight, or perhaps lack there of, fun or helpful, but hey... it's free right?  Til next time!

Free RPG Day: Recap!

Yesterday, as you all surely know, was a religious holiday for the table-top gamer. The day our publisher godlings bestow upon us gifts of free merchandise; of which in return we help peddle in the hopes to convert others into the cult! I'm talking of course about Free RPG Day!

On this glorious day of days I Judged my 0-level adventure Sky ov Crimson Flame for a group who have played table-top RPGs before, but had yet to experience the gonzo nature of DCC RPG. I will not recap the entire section, like I did in my last post, just the goofball highlights!

The Highlights:

• These players were really getting into the role-playing aspect of the game, so much so that one of them was changing his character's occupations and telling me how they were backwoods moonshiners. I warned them not to get attached...
• They are also the fist group of players that wanted to bury the dead as they figured out the wretched villagers were of course from the village of Reed. Most of my other groups are of the more murberhobo variety and could have cared less.
• The first death happened when a Cherub Head-bat bit off a man's face!
• When the Cherub Head-bombs were dive bombing the characters, one of the guys oiled up his duck and sent it flying into the monsters, causing both the duck and the flying head-bomb to  explode!
• The dwarf lowered his pig into the dungeon and asked it if all was clear.
• In the library the PCs found three magical items (from the magic item list provided in the module): The Crow Book, which was used a lot...; the phallic thing in a decanter, which was not drunk but was taken out of the decanter and flopped around a lot ("now your just playing with it!"; and finally the strange scroll, of which killed a player when he broke the wax seal.
• When the Crow Book was first opened it killed some players, the next time it was opened they were trying to kill the Corrupted Flesh.
• Speaking of the Corrupted Flesh, it consumed the dwarf while we was riding his pig in the Library, the pig freaked out and the ran around trying to get the monster off it. 
• The PC with the Love Letter from Belesa found her face in the box and went crazy. He put on the face because he missed her so? I don't know why exactly...
• The Soul Chamber took out another 5 or so PCs again.
• The Butcher Cultist had the upper hand this time around and surprised the party, he murdered three PCs before he was put down.
• Out on the courtyard, the Fleshy Mass was strangling and eating PCs left and right, while the smarter ones ran up the tower to confront the witch.
• The PC that loved through a duck a the beginning decided to tie the Crow Book to the bottom of a goose in the hopes it would open and the crows all attack the Flesh Mass. I judged it worked, but the goose, being followed by a murder of crows, took off towards the village and that when they arrived back everyone was probably going to be dead... The Fleshy Mass only suffered minor cuts.
• On the tower, the Witch's surprise magic missile attack backfired on her!
• The PCs started killing the impaled victims hoping to stop the eldritch light pouring from their faces, which was drawing the Crimson Star closer. In the game, this works and slows the ceremony down.
• In the end, they killed the witch and stop the ceremony and tossed the chaos dagger over the edge of the tower.

I'm not sure if I converted any new disciples to DCC or not, but overall we had a great time!

Session Recap: Sky ov Crimson Flame

Last night I introduced a couple of newcomers to Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG with my 0-level funnel Sky ov Crimson Flame. Out the 20 characters total (this includes 4 rescued villagers) there was a total of 14 character deaths! Below is are the highlights from the session (possible spoilers!), but first the players and their characters!

The DOOMED!

Nothing brings people together like a near TPK!

Jordyn was playing: Laurence the Squire, Cherry Star the Astrologer, Iskamar the Shaman and HuMungo the Grave Digger.

Charlie (not a newcomer to RPGs, but new to DCC) was playing: Baby Dennis the Cheesmaker, Lesley the Cobbler, Fico the Halfling Mariner and Ronnie the Dwarven stonemason.

Alana was playing: Darren the Costermonger, Darrel the Gongfarmer, Dave the Elven navigator and Dan the Ditch Digger.

Will (totally new to RPGs) was playing: Baby Destroyer the Woodcutter, Big Jerry Tea Cups the Trapper, Angeline Gungertoes the Radish Farmer and Mike the Minstrel.

Adventure Highlights:

• Setting out from the village of Reed, the party entered the dreaded Eastern Forest and was surprised by a group of maddened and flayed people. Here the party encountered their first death as Darren was torn to shreds. They soon vanquished the the foes and continued to towards the direction of the falling Crimson Star.
• Death Toll: 1
• Reaching an Ancient Keep, they crossed the bridge, ignoring the Head-bat chewing on a crucified corpse, and attempting to open the gate whereupon Head-bats from the battlements pushed over two statues that came crashing down, breaking the bridge. Surprisingly no one fell to their death!
• The party took the right bend on the ledge around the Keep's rock foundation. I asked the players to determine their walking order as follows: Will, Jordyn, Charlie, Alana. As they wound the bend three head-bats, with explosive bottles tied and lit to their... heads?, were spiraling down towards them. Will and Jordyn's characters pushed on to the backside where the ledge widens, but Charlie and Alana's characters couldn't make it in time. Dave the Elf shot one of the fiends down, but the other two exploded killing, Dave, Dan and Baby Dennis.
• Death Toll: 4
• After the explosion Charlie and Alana's PCs found new opening in the rock and entered.
• Will and Jordyn's characters entered through a grate which lead into a dungeon. From there they found a set of keys and moved on to the stairwell that rose to the next level.
• The new cave turned out to be a tomb of some ancient king with elephantiasis bones. Darrel the Gongfarmer found a magic sword laying with the King! They headed up a set of stairs that lead to a secret door which entered a hall of tapestries. Lesley the Cobbler (being of high INT) began studying these tapestries.
• As Will and Jordyns PCs ascended the stairs they heard footsteps and mumbling. Laurence the Squire stuck up the stairs and peeked around the corner seeing several figures in the dim light. He told Baby Destroying, who flew up the stairs to surprise attack whoever it was and ended up almost killing Lesley as he was studying the tapestries. 
• Now that the party was back together they entered the only room they could, a library and began searching the surroundings.
• Darrel's new sword began glow as if aflame just before HuMungo was attacked by a naked husk of walking skin that split down the middle and consumed his flesh!
• Death Toll: 5
• The Party attacked the creature and Ronnie the dwarf began through potions from a nearby bookshelf at it! (I rolled a random Potion from Fifty Fantastic Functions for the D50 and got one that drained 2d6 STR). Darrel and the Corrupted Flesh were struck by the foul potion that steamed about the room and, failing a Fort save, Darrel's muscles deteriorated and he collapsed on the ground.
• After they defeated the monster, one of the PCs started carrying Darrel around like a backpack until the Shaman attempted to heal him with some herbs and holy water (she rolled high enough and I allowed 3d4 STR healing. Enough to take Darrel from -6 to 1.)
• In the library, Ronnie found a strange tome bound in black feathers, of which he decided to open on the balcony near by. The crows picked his bones from his flesh!
• Death Toll: 6
• The Party also found a box with a girl's face in it. The face was Baby Destoryer's lover Belesa (the first taken from the village) and he lost his mind (losing some INT points from the ghastly reveal).
• While exploring they found a secret tunnel which lead to a strange dug out room. In the room were two iron metal arms. Baby Dennis activated the arms (which would normal encase him in crystal before transporting him to Other Worlds and disintegrating his body, except that he rolled a 20 on his Fort save and survived!) The crystal, however, exploded and sent chucks flying through the room which killed Fico, Cherry Star, Iskamar, Laurence, Baby Destroyer, and Big Jeffery Tea Cups!
• Death Toll: 12
• Skipping ahead the party found a window to the next level just before the Corrupted Flesh regenerated and tried to get them.
• Having heard some evil guy talking on the other side of the door, they busted through and surprise the Butcher Cultist and easily dropped him!
• They evenutally reached the Courtyard and battled and killed with the magic sword the Shambling Flesh monster before heading up the the tower to face the Witch there.
• As they emerged at the top of the tower, the Crimson Star was a huge ball of flames! The Witch was almost complete with her ritual as they attacked and missed in the confusion and blustering winds! The Witch killed Darrel with a brutal stab to the throat! 
• Death Toll: 13
• One of the newly saved villagers, Shakia the Elven barrister managed to take the strange fleshly dagger out of the Witch's hands and push her face down into the pool of blood she was standing in. 
• On the last round, before the Necromancer would have appeared and sent him all into a Nexus Between Worlds they dragged her body out of the sticky bloody muck and through her off the tower.
• Shakia, who had the weird blade, was a possessed and attacking her fellow party members. Killing Baby Dennis, before they wrestled the blade from her.
• Death Toll: 14
• With a 10ft pole they knocked the dagger off the tower into the deep valley below and "save the day!" sort of...

What did I learn?

• I was using the printed module to run the game and there are plenty of places were I say, "Man, I wish I put a comma there" or "Why didn't I think of this before!"
• I agree with a recently Facebook review that there are too many DC checks for what should be obvious things. (i.e. Dwarf masonry checks, etc)
• I changed a few things (with the chance of a die). For example: the door to the Butcher Cultist is suppose to be locked, but at the time their party only had 3 wounded PCs and I knew there were "fresh" ones on the other side if they managed to kill the cultist. So with a percent die of 50 or less the door would be unlocked and they could just barge in, which they did. I also added one more villager in that room to be saved (there are only 3 in the book).
• Sometimes the players roll well and sometimes they don't. They were able to kill the Shambling Flesh Mass easy. It's hard to judge whether a creature like the Shambling Flesh Mass has too few dice or not. In retrospect I probably should have given it 8d6 HD for the 8 cultists it took to make the creature instead of the 4d10 it has.  

In the end there will most definitely be a 2nd or "revised" printing of Sky ov Crimson Flame as I continue to grow both as a Judge and a writer. (Note that I'm not going to "George Lucas" the shit out of it, just add a few things here or there). More than likely this will happen with the printing of my next adventure.

Sky ov Crimson Flame Pre-Orders

That's right! Owl Knight Publishing is accepting pre-orders for its launch title Sky ov Crimson Flame. You can hit any of the links here on the page or visit the Kickstarter page and order!

If you're interested in whole sell orders please drop me a line at thorinthompson AT gmail DOT com.

CHEERS!

Post Kickstarter Update #1

It's been quite a while since I last posted an update here (many of my updates currently have been posted through Kickstarter). So today I will combined all those updates into one long post!

On Writing

Before launching the Kickstarter my 0-level funnel Sky ov Crimson Flame was 100% written and ready to go to the printers upon the completion of the campaign and a few remain art pieces. That was before I had even really considered the first 3 stretch goals would be reached followed by the final stretch goal of a newly written 1st level mini-campaign called Blights ov the Eastern Forest. As of this writing it's been a little over 1 month since the Kickstarter was funded and in that month I'd say 90% (or so) of the new adventure is fully written and laid out in Adobe Indesign.

The Eastern Forest adventure setting will consist of 6 different locations with a bestiary of creatures that can be randomly encountered whilst traversing the forest. 5 of the locations will be written by yours truly and 1 is a collaborative piece written by +Clint Bohaty of +Order of the Quill. His current area outline sounds really awesome and I'm really excited to be fleshing out the sordid history of the Eastern Forest with him.

I foresee all the written material for Blights ov the Eastern Forest to be finished within the next two weeks.

On Art

Both adventures are going to feature a lot of artwork from the likes of OSR faves and newcomers alike. Here are some of the most current pieces I've commissioned from +Stefan Poag, each of which were stretch goals for Sky ov Crimson Flame.

0-level Character Sheet Border

Random Item Table Border

Nexus Event Table Border

That's it for now friends. In the coming weeks I will have new artwork and further details on each of 6 locations found throughout the dreaded Eastern Forest!

802%

To say Sky ov Crimson Flame (SovCF)was successful might be an understatement. I still can't believe it took off the way it did and I have at least 420+ people to thank. Our gaming community is amazing and throughout the creation of this adventure I have met a lot of great people through the magic of the interwebs! If nothing else was successful that would have been enough.

What's Next?

Right now I've got three artists working on new and old pieces for the adventure and I'm currently talking to three others for the follow up mini-campaign Blights of the Eastern Forest (BotEF) that was unlocked via Kickstarter.

In SovCF your party travels from the village of Reed through the Eastern Forest and to the Ancient Keep (wherein most of the adventure then takes place). With Blights of the Eastern Forest the survivors of the funnel can then go adventuring for glory and fame as they restore the balance from Chaos to Law.

My idea is to have a mini map of the forest that features highlighted locations that will then be described in further detail. Some of them may be mini dungeon crawls, puzzles or just a mini boss fight of sorts. Along with the new areas the adventure will also feature a random encounters table of creatures found within the blighted woods. New artwork will of course accompany the pages through-out.

As of right now I'm about 4,000+ words in possibly another 6,000 to go!

New Art

The most recent piece I've received for SovCF is the one below by +Nicolò Maioli.

I think this might be my new favorite piece! Well folks that's it for this update. If you backed the Kickstarter a thousand thank yous! If you didn't, well you'll just have to want a couple months to get a copy!

- Cheers!

- Thorin

Let the Ceremony Commence!

Tonight, a thunderous boom ripples across the land as a Crimson Star ignites in the eastern sky just above the Horned Moon rising. Strange ululations cry out as fleeting shadows ride across the wind. Who will unravel the mystery and brave the bowels of that foul Keep where surely unspeakable horrors must await!

YES! it has finally begun! Months of toll and torment and typing until blood spurts from my finger tips (okay I may be exaggerating) has finally come to this! Sky ov Crimson Flame, my 0-level adventure for DCCRPG, is now live on Kickstarter!

This has been a long time in the making and I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. However, I'm just the writer and there are plenty of people who have helped me out along the way. First I have to thank +Stefan Poag for his amazing cover art. When I first saw the final piece it really cemented in my head that "Hey, this is really a thing! This is real!" The piece truly captures the chaos and zaniness (that's a word right?) of the adventure.

+Nicolò Maioli and +Jordyn Boci have both delivered excellent pieces as well that highlight the creatures and characters met throughout the adventure. +Harley Stroh and +Jon Hershberger have both provided me with powerful insight into the wild world of self publishing. Of course I can't forget all the play testers who sacrificed braved characters in order for me to get a better grasp on the adventure. Their deaths will be remembered! Many of you reading this have probably provided insight and encouragement and I thank thee here and now! The Dark Lord himself +Joseph Goodman has blessed this adventure and many thanks to him too!

Now my pretty ones! Go out and spread this chaos to all corners of the land! Let it be known that evil is a foot and must be snuffed out! The flight of Owl Knight Publishing begins here, now, today!

Light at the End of the Dungeon!

After many months of writing draft after draft, commissioning artwork and banging my head against the wall there is finally some light at the end of this insanity laden journey! For LO & BEHOLD my 0-level funnel Sky ov Crimson Flame has been approved to carry the moniker of Compatible with DCC! (Thanks Joseph Goodman!)

Look! There it is!

So what are the next steps and when can you get this bad boy? Well I've commissioned the last pieces of art and should be getting those in the next couple of weeks. My overall goal for this adventure was not to just release PDF or Print-on-Demand copies, but to have a physical inventory to take to conventions, local shops, and throw at random people walking down the street.

I will be launching a Kickstarter next Monday (Sept. 19th) to raise the funds in order to take this adventure to print. Throughout the campaign (time willing) I will try to run as many session as I can via Google Hangouts or Roll 20.

If you're interested in perusing the Kickstarter page hit this LINK! Any feedback would be helpful; especially if I misspelled something or sound like a complete dolt! 

Status Update + Artwork

Hello again! For the past several weeks my schedule has been nuts! I recently starting working on the set of a t.v show called Shots Fired, which is shooting around Charlotte, NC. There have been some really long hours and needless to say that takes away from my other projects.

So What's The Status?

As of right now the adventure is 100% written and 95% of the artwork is complete. The layout work is just about finished and a printer is lined up ready to go! As I said in an earlier post I am planning on launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund a small print run of the adventure, which can be taken to conventions, sold online, etc. I'm currently working on the profile page for that and getting with some DCCRPG writers and artists for any stretch goals that campaign may reach.

In the meantime here is the latest bit of artwork I've received from +Jordyn Boci.

Map 1

Creepy Chamber Handout

Till next time, keep crawling!

BRAND SPANKING NEW ARTWORK! (and other good news!)

First the Art!

Progress on Sky ov Crimson Flame has been a little slow as of late; ironically due to everyone being too busy with other projects. I've been patiently waiting new artwork from +Jordyn Boci who has been hitting up some horror conventions with her studio Creature Revenge. Yesterday I got my new pieces in and as always they look SICK!

Here we have a scene from the adventure featuring an Adult Head Bat!

Next we have an extremely evil fellow your party does not want to run across!

& Now the Other News!

In my downtime while waiting on this artwork to arrive (and there are still some more pieces) I've been writing the next adventure that loosely ties into the current one. It's going to be a 3rd level adventure and currently I've written 40 pages which is only a third of the total adventure! So it's gonna be a doozie!

I've also been acquiring quotes from printers as I've decided I do not want to go the Print-On-Demand route. However, like most aspiring writers, I'm poor and so I am planning to run a Kickstarter campaign for a small print run of the adventure. The initial goal will be very low with some neat stretch goals if things take off. No matter want the adventure will be available on PDF once completed.

If all goes well I should have more artwork later this week or early next week. In the meantime, what pledge levels, stretch goals or other goodies would you like to see on this Kickstarter? I was thinking maybe I could get some cool little buttons or something made for when people run the adventure for the Goodman Games World Tour? 

Feast on some Fleshy Art!

Over the weekend I received some disgusting new art from +Jordyn Boci for my 0-level adventure Sky Ov Crimson Flame. Both of these pieces represent creatures that may be encountered in the adventure.

First up is the Corrupted Flesh (and yes that's our little Love Hobbit from an earlier post. Seems he's gotten himself in quite the pickle*!) *No pun intended there...

Next up is my new favorite piece! Jordyn put a ton a detail in this one and the original is definitely finding a spot on the wall in the game room. This is the Fleshy Mass! 

Only three more pieces of art to acquire (not counting the map) and then it can be sent off to Goodman Games for approval. In the meantime I've started my next project, a 3rd level adventure that loosely ties into elements from the current one.

You can follow Jordyn on instagram @archaic_manifestation. She does all sort of awesome artistic things I could only dream of making! 

New Artwork Coming In!

Over the week I've received two new pieces of interior artwork for my 0-level funnel Sky ov Crimson Flame.

This first piece is from +Nicolò Maioli who did an absolutely amazing job at capturing this scene from the adventure where many a player death has occurred!   What's funny to me personally (and I didn't tell him to do this) is that the man on the far right of the picture looks just like my girlfriend's crazy cleric Hans from our Shudder Mountains campaign!

Next up is another piece from the talented +Jordyn Boci who drew the dreaded dagger of the Necromancer, Atma-khanjr! It is a powerful relic, forged not from steel, but from the very soul of the Necromancer. Its wavy bone blade emerges from a sleeve of flesh with veins that pulse and shudder to the touch!

This thing is sick and I love it!

Jordyn really captured the grotesque texture of this blade or as she put it "ball sack flesh."

And while the real artists work there magic I've been laying out the map. Spoliers?

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It's all coming together nicely and as far as I'm concerned it's still on schedule for a spring release!

New 0-level Funnel Art!

Last week I mentioned there'd be more artwork coming in.

These first two were drawn by +Jordyn Boci

Sigil of the Necromancer

 

A halfling in love!

This next piece was illustrator by +Nicolò Maioli

The Witch summoning the Crimson Star!

I'm really pleased with these pieces and I have both of them working on more artwork.

Sky ov Crimson Flame is scheduled for a spring release on PDF and Print on Demand.

In the meantime, you can snag yourself a limited 11"x17" print of the the adventure cover art by +Stefan Poag on my Etsy Shop.

On the Eve of a New Year!

I'm thrilled to be posting today! What better way to kick off a new year than with some fantastic artwork from +Stefan Poag! You may have already seen the work in progresss if you follow his blog. Well yesterday he sent me the final piece that is to be the cover art for my 0-level Adventure for DCCRPG Sky ov Crimson Flame.

Before I show off the final piece and mock up of the adventure cover I thought I'd show off some progression pictures!

Here was my idea for the cover art. Low angle, towering keep, scary stuff, and hapless villagers. Now I know what you're thinking; why would I even have anyone else draw up a piece when I have this masterwork of art...

Stefan sent me back not one but two sketches. This first which is similar to my orginal design, abid, slightly better... :-p

 

The second was another angle, an over-the-shoulder of the witch! This is just one of my reasons to work with Stefan or any qualified artist is they will hopefully, and I fully encourage it, provide their own suggestions on what the perfect piece will look like.

 

 Well I fell in love with this piece and gave him the go ahead to work his magic!

 

A week or so later I get this glorious piece!

And here is the mockup of what the cover may look like.

In celebration of this I have started a Google+ Community page for Owl Knight Publishing. I'm hoping in a short time many discussions can be had there concerning this and future adventures. Sky of Crimson Flame will hopefully be out by Spring 2016 if not before. I am currently working on the layout and getting more artwork finished.

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 

Latest Playtest & Other Musings

Last night I play-tested Sky ov Crimson Fire my 0-Level Funnel (formally titled Red Flame Resurrection) with +Alex Perucchini , +Clint Bohaty and +Tony Tucker on Google Hangouts.  Everybody had a good time and it was a blast.

This was the third play-test of this adventure, but the first with experienced role-players.  Being so, they were extremely cautious when it came to just about everything.  Checking doors and chests for traps, but mainly sending in Becky the Sheep to do the dirty work (who lived).  There were plenty of deaths to be had, but they managed to finish the adventure and stop the evil rites before they could come to fruition.  [Clint's 0-level Thoom the soldier, tackled the Witch, wrapping a demonic necklace around her as they tumbled off the tower only to be pulled to Hell!]

It was epic, but what did I learn?

• Less is more when it comes to baddies.  What I mean is less baddies that do more damage are better than too many baddies that do fewer damage.
• Mini-boss fights need to be brutal.
• Descriptions can be confusing, even to the guy that wrote the damn thing. (Which needs to be re-written.)
• When splitting a party have everyone roll initiative and just go down the line, switching between rooms instead of having separate initiatives between rooms.  (Does that make sense?)
• When is too much exposition, too much...
• Sheep are better at finding treasure than people are.

Overall I'm satisfied with how it went and I can't wait to run it again and get more feedback.

In Other News...

+Mythoard's latest subscription box should include a One-Page Adventure setting by your's truly!  I would love to hear a review of it if you get to read it.

I've also been reading a hell of a lot of Cthulhu by Gaslight scenarios as my play group wants me to run them in a game this October.  Though there are plenty of good ones in the books provided; there just isn't a huge selection of 1890's adventures.  This has got my brain swirling with stories that I'd like to publish (either through submissions directly to Chaosium or maybe via third party).  This is of course way down the line, but it's something I really wanna do none-the-less.

AnyHOO!  That's all for now folks!

Hoo... I mean...What! I Learned From Last Night's Play-test.

So last night I ran my 0-level funnel tentatively titled Red Flame Resurrection for a group of 4 each of whom had 6 PCs each.

Using +Jon Marr Purple Sorcerer 0-Level Party Generator I randomly made 24 PCs where the 1's on hp were re-rolled (however some of the stats for Stamina were so low that some hit points were still at 1). Out of those 24 PCs only 4 survived!  It was brutal and everyone had a blast!

So this is the second play-test of this adventure which is in its second draft.  Tomorrow I begin writing draft three.

Here is what I learned:

• Agility Challenges involving 24 PCs is pretty silly and slows the game way down.  It's better to randomly determine 1 PC from each player or maybe only the PCs with the lowest Luck score from each player and then have them roll Agility Checks.
• Random Tables of items in rooms are fun (even more so when they kill off players!)
• Making every death meaningful adds to the fun and keeps the players in a good mood even if they are being slaughtered.
• DC 10 Strength Checks for scaling walls with a rope can be just as brutal as raving mad cultists.
• Speaking of Cultists if you have a mini boss fight planned you better make sure he has more hp than a long sword can deal damage.
• Make sure your major baddie has a ton of hp to make the battle feasible.  (Amount of PCs x 10 = hp?)  That equation might seem crazy, but it works!

Overall my players (who are also my friends) had a lot of fun and said this version was better than the last.  However it is finally time to step out of my comfort zone and run this adventure with strangers.  In the next few weeks I plan on running some games online and will of course keep you all updated.  I've never ran a game online so I'm not really sure what's the best way to go about it.  I've never used Roll20 or whatever.  If you have any advice please leave me a comment.

I'll leave you with one final piece (of artwork!)

 This is a piece I commission from the extremely talented +Stefan Poag.  It will be in the back of all my modules displaying the best deaths from all the play-tests of said adventure and it's metal as hell!

A Taste of What's to Come!

I've finished my revisions for my first adventure; a zero-level funnel for DCCRPG tentatively entitled Red Flame Resurrection.  As of right now the draft is a solid 14 pages, features 2 fun random tables and 15 areas.

Here is a snip-it from the beginning:

Starting the Adventure:

It started with the disappearance of Belesa, the raven haired beauty with jade eyes, then others began to disappear.  Finally the children were snatched out their beds in the dark of the night.  Many suspect they have been taken to the ancient Keep that lies hidden in the hills of the Eastern Forest, for tonight, a strange ululation catches the wind as Red Star falls between a Horned Moon rising.

You brave souls are all the village of Reed could muster in a vain hope to save those that have been taken.  Together you steel yourselves as you trek up through the hills of the Eastern Forest where the pines sway eerily in the waning moonlight and weird voices rises and fall in unison sending chills down your spine.  

Shadowed bulbous shapes with wings flop and flutter over the pines towards the old Keep.  Soon enough a gruesome sigh befalls your eyes!  Two villagers, their flesh torn away from their bodies hang crucified at the threshold of winding and jagged stone steps that twist up and over the cliff sides to the Keep's front gates.  A grand pyre blazes in the last standing tower towards the back of the structure and a silhouetted figure is glimpses dancing around it.

Now for another couple play-tests and we'll be ready for the next phase!