Gaming

Not my problem
Well once again the gaming world is being shaken up by the release of a new edition of D&D. And just like before, some are embracing the change while others rage against it.

Personally I could care less. My D&D world is firmly entrenched in 2nd edition AD&D with the occasional nostalgic foray into Basic D&D.
WOTC hasn't seen any of my money for quite some time.

For a very interesting piece on the OGL and the new 4th edition head over to the Dungeon Mastering blog and read Phil's take on things.


Getting fluffy
The other day I posted that as I was finishing up the adventure for the Broadsword expansion set I realised that the adventure and the campaign world could be used for any RPG system, not just the 1PG system. This got me thinking that rather than cater to one system it would be better to write material genre specific rather than system specific. Any referee worth his salt can stat out a villain, whats more important are the background, motivations, and intentions of the villain in regards to the encounter and the adventure as a whole. This was one of my main frustrations with the Perils of the Orient PDF that Adamant put out a year ago. in the accessory they give an example of an Oriental mastermind but he's essentially a stat block with no personal background, nothing on his motivations or any information on his organisation. I didn't need a bunch of numbers what I needed to know was how to play the character. So now I'm revising the projects I'm working on. I'm going to work on more fluff than crunch, in fact I'll try to avoid crunch all together where I can. Why should I write up a Lost worlds adventure just for Dime Heroes when I can make it generic enough that it appeals to a Referee running Spirit of the century, Savage Worlds, GURPS Cliffhangers or Two Fisted tales.

Right now on my hard drive in various stages of completion I have the following:

Broadsword Expansion II -This one is going to deal with the sword and planet genre. it will include an interdimensional "Lost World" that will be suitable for Broadsword / Dime Heroes or any Pulp type 'lost world" campaign.

"For Love and Honor" - An romantic adventure in the vein of stardust, The princess bride, The prisoner of Zenda, and the Mad King. the adventure will be ideal for any game set in a era of swashbuckling and magic. It take place on a low-mid level magic world called Aurora. the adventure involves the rescue of a royal family from the clutches of the evil usurpers-sword fighting, chases, elementals, sorcerers, espionage, and all sorts of daring do in a period resembling that of 1800's earth. The adventure was originally conceived for the Idyll 1PG game but will be adaptable to almost any system.

And with all these cool western games like Aces and eights and Coyote trail, I'm brainstorming on a sourcebook that would focus on adventure south of the border- not just Northern Mexico but into Central and South America as well. I won a bunch of Renegade books on eBay and I ain't afraid to use em!

I'm still gathering reference material for "Mission: Adventure!" I decided to use the Legends of Steel rules engine and just plug in upgrades where necessary.

And speaking of Legends of Steel, I think I've found the artist to do the cover for the book. Jeremy Mohler is a fantastic artist whose work I think would really compliment Legends of Steel. I contacted him and we have come to an agreement. he has me scheduled for this summer at which time he will begin working with me on the concepts for the cover.