The hangover (Sword & Sorcery style)

Carousing results table for Legends of Steel (revised)

01 Shanghaied! Your character awakens from his latest revel on a ship that has already set sail.

02 -03 Your character parties with a VIP, a dissolute noble, up and coming merchant, or an entertainer of repute.

04-06 Your character gets married while drunk. His spouse is very attractive.

07-09 Your character now owns a blade of exquisite quality and workmanship.

10-13 Your character gets married while drunk his spouse is not the slightest bit attractive.

14-16 Your character awakens with the poxed whore he was warned about last night.

17-18 Your character overhears whispering thieves and gains a lead on a vast sum of wealth.

19-20 Your character wins a ship or deed. The ships crew hasn’t been paid in weeks. The land title is to a large, rundown, possibly haunted, estate.

21-22 Your character pledges his service and eternal friendship to a total stranger.

23 Recruited! Your character gas joined the army.

24-40 Your character has spent half of his earnings on wenches, wine, narcotics, etc.

41-43 Your character has spent all of his earnings on wenches, wine, narcotics, etc.

44-56 Robbed while drunk - lose all your characters treasure and equipment.

57-60 Robbed and beaten while drunken, as above but your character wakes up with a wound.

61-63 Your character now owns a slave or the contract to an indentured servant.

64 Your character wakes up holding a basket. The basket has a baby and a note “Her name is Emily. Be kind to her.”

65-66 Your character drank some bad date wine, and is incapacitated for a week.

67 Your character wakes up to find he is wanted for murder (He’s completely innocent but that’s not the point).

68-69 Your character now owns an exotic mount (camel, elephant, ostrich, llama).

70-72 Your character defeated the town bully, ruffian or #1 bad guy. Everyone in town loves him, except the kin of the man he defeated.

73-74 Your character wakes up in a luxury suite with a beautiful courtesan and twice the money he had last night.

75-76 Your character awakens clutching a note in his hand. The note has a desperate message written on it.

77-79 Your character wakes up in a nobleman’s guestroom and is mistaken for a legendary hero.

80-85 Your character now owns the tavern, wine shop, or brothel he woke up in.

86-96 Your character is incarcerated for drunken hooliganism.

97-99 Your character wakes up with the “mother of all hangovers” but no other ill effects.

100  Last night she was the sexiest wench in the tavern. Your character now wakes to find “she” is really a “he.”

World of Broadsword upgrade

As I mentioned in a previous post, everyone who purchased a copy of World of Broadsword would be getting an upgrade copy of Legends of Steel - Broadsword Edition for free.

Well, the upgrades have been sent out. If you had purchased World of Broadsword from either RPGNow, Drive Thru RPG or Precis Intermedia and have yet to receive a copy of Legends of Steel Broadsword Edition, send me an email at Evil DM Productions and I'll check you against our master list and get a copy out to you.

Thanks again for all of your support with World of Broadsword.

Legends of Steel-Broadsword Edition is out!

Legends of Steel: Broadsword Edition is now out! It's a completely revamped and updated version of The World of Broadsword. Legends of Steel: Broadsword edition has New Advantages, A brand new full color map, and an expanded array of nations, City-States, and locales.

You can purchase Legends of Steel: Broadsword Edition at either RPGNow or at the Precis Intermedia Webstore.

Remember, you need to also have a copy of the Broadsword 1PG RPG in order to get the full use of this product.

And remember, If you have already purchased World of Broadsword, you should be getting a link for an upgrade to LoS-Broadsword very soon!

1Page system and support

If you’ve been around here for a while you know that I’m not a big fan of Yahoo (why?  Click here).

But there are several Yahoogroups that I belong to that I really don’t want to give up.  One of which is the 1PG group.  The 1PG group is a fan site that discusses and shares information in support of the 1PG game line from Deep7 Games.  In the world of fast-play “Indie” games the 1PG system is often overshadowed by other systems such a Microlite D20 or Risus,  but 1PG still has their core audience of adoring fans that not only keep the games alive by supporting the line but also by creating their own fan based materials.  If you join the 1PG group and head over to the files section you will find a very impressive number of fan made 1PG games .  Here are just a few-

MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN: Roleplaying in the British Empire

Lost Tales: High Fantasy

Semper Seven: A special missions force versus a ruthless terrorist organization.

Sherwood: The First and ONLY Robin Hood 1PG

BABEWATCH: Sun, Sand, Sea & Sex Roleplaying

The 1page fansite is a great place to get a hold of a lot of support material on a great game system.  1Page is just so damn user friendly it's hard not to like it.

 Stop on by Deep7 games and have a look at what they have to offer. They  have great games, covering just about every RPG Genre.  The prices are certainly easy on the wallet, and they have a  small but very dedicated fan-base. 

Oh and don’t forget Heyoka Studios – they are an exclusive producer of commercial 1PG games and supplements.

Thank you!

Last week I asked Heyoka Studios to remove The World of Broadsword from their virtual shelves. The reason being is that very soon Legends of Steel- Broadsword Edition will be coming out. The Broadsword Edition of Legends of Steel will contain all of the material from the World of Broadsword plus additional content such as a beautifully rendered full color map, additional Advantages, and more locales.

The World of Broadsword was my first solo attempt to create a commercial RPG product. I'm glad to say it was a success. I'd like to thank all of you who purchased WoB and promoted it on the various Blogs and Forums we all belong to. I'd also like to thank James Stubbs of Heyoka Studios and Todd Downing of Deep7 Games for allowing me the chance to expand on the Broadsword 1PG.

As a special thank you to everyone who helped support Evil DM Productions by purchasing a copy of WoB, you will be receiving a free upgrade PDF copy of Legends of Steel- Broadsword Edition once it becomes available.
Thanks again everyone.
Jeff

Evil DM Productions has a forum

I just wanted to send a quick not out to let you all know that I have opened a forums section on the Evil DM Productions website. The Forum actually consists of two parts. First is a section dealing exclusively with Evil DM Productions – Information on releases as well as forums for each product line. The second section is an open forum geared to discussions on Heroic Fiction in all its various mediums and genres, such as the various branches of Pulp, Men's Adventure, and Historical Adventure - Everything from Conan to The Executioner.

I know it's "Another forum" and if you're like me you probably belong to three too many as it is. Never the less, I want to extend the invitation to all of you. Whether you interest lies in gaming or the any other area of Heroic Adventure in the media, I invite you join this new group and help me grow it into a interesting place to discuss our shared enjoyment of action and adventure.

Thanks,

Jeff M.

You can find the forum at the Evil DM Production website under "Forums"

http://evildmproductions.net/default.aspx

Or you can go directly to it at:

http://evildmproductions.prophpbb.com/index.php

Evil DM Productions update

Legends of Steel is at Heyoka studios. Its queued up for layout and will be ready for release in a few weeks at most. I’m really excited about this. I started this journey back in 2005 and I'm finally getting to the end. This hobby is full of dreams and imagination, lots of people with cool ideas and concepts. Unfortunately few are ever seen all the way through, I’m kind of proud that I was able to see this through. The plan is to release Legends of Steel –Savage worlds as a PDF.

First off, I’m going to send a few review copies out to a few key people who post on message boards, blogs and podcasts and then I’ll make it available at my website. Later, I’ll pass it over to Heyoka so they can host it at RPGNow and Drive through RPG.

At the moment the price is going to come in around $12.00, I really gave this a lot of thought. I’ve always been a firm believer in not paying more than $15.00 for any PDF products and so I’m sticking to that same conviction when it comes to my own stuff. But I do need to make sure that I at least recoup my investment. The cover art and the full color map are great, but they’re great because I had talented professionals create them, and talented professionals don’t come cheap (and rightly so).

I figure to sell directly initially and try to avoid the RPGNow commission bite. I have a PayPal account in place and I’ll monitor it closely. I may not be able to provide the instant downloading that RPGNow can, but I’ll make sure that orders are processed within a couple of hours at the most.

The second release in the Legends of Steel line will be the “Broadsword Edition” which will be geared to the Broadsword 1PG system RPG by Deep7. LoS-Broadsword will be released directly through Heyoka Studios, as they hold the license from Deep7 for all new 1PG products.

And third in line will be Legends of Steel the “ZeFRS Edition”. This edition will be a collaboration between myself and Mark Krawec, with all proceeds going to purchase new art and fund content for further ZeFRS Projects.

As for now, I hope to follow-up with The Lost World of Hador within a few months of the Legends of Steel release. I received a preliminary sketch of the cover art back from Joffrey Suarez and I’m really pleased with what he’s come up with.

Here’s is a sneak peek at the concept sketch for the Lost World of Hador cover…

Legends of Steel - Boskar (Draft)

I Haven't really posted much game related stuff. the reason being is that I'm diligently working on the Legends of Steel project for Savage Worlds. Here is a small peek of what I've been up to. It's in draft form so forgive the grammatical errors. I just thought some of you guys might find this interesting.




Boskar

Boskar is called the “City of thieves” by many. It is located just inside the Sikkar Plains, in the foothills that separate the High mountains and the Druss mountain ranges. This is another city founded by “adventurers” (see Hogar) who happened to be in the right place at the right time. It began as a trading post established by a group of merchant adventurers from Teve who secured permission to establish a trading settlement from the local tribe of Sikkar. This Trading post soon grew to a decent sized town as the people from the free cities of the coast began acquiring an appetite for Sikkar Bison. A profitable trade in livestock was going on when a group of settlers came down from the nearby hills with huge gold nuggets. Boskar’s main industry went from Livestock to mining overnight.

Strengths
Mines: the discovery and mining of precious metals has enabled the “Bosses” to afford material and manpower to build improved defenses for the city and hire troops to man the walls.

Boomtown: People from all over are flocking to Boskar. Dozens of caravans and groups of people with “Gold fever” enter the city everyday. The demand for goods and services has far surpassed what the original inhabitants can provide, so now the call has gone out for artisans, laborers and other professionals to come to Boskar and seek their fortune.

Weaknesses
Greed and corruption: Those that aren’t able to stake a claim of their own are doing their best to take advantage of those who have. Corrupt officials, dishonest merchants, ladies of questionable virtue, and charlatans of every stripe, prey on each other like piranhas. Taverns, Lotus dens and brothels provide their services at a premium price. Even a decent meal and a bed for the night could leave a man broke the next day. People are complaining, but the council of men who run Boskar (collectively known as “the Bosses”) are slow to react as they are making coin hand over fist themselves.

Opportunities
Wide open town: In such an environment it’s not hard for the enterprising adventurer to see opportunity at every turn. Law enforcement exists for those who can pay for it and consists of gangs of toughs working for the different bosses.

Gold! : Many people try their hand at mining in the hills. For some it’s profitable. For most it’s deadly. Hill tribes, bandits, wild animals, other miners, and nature herself will all conspire to end any dreams of riches.

Threats
The Sikkar: If worrying about everyone else in the city wasn’t bad enough, there are still the Sikkar outside the walls. The wagon people are seriously starting to rethink this whole trading post idea. Seeing the large influx of people and the wooden stockades being replaced by stone walls is not helping their disposition. There are many calling for a council to gather the tribes for war and rid these dirt diggers from the “Sea of grass” permanently.

Radu: All of this prosperity and growth hasn’t escaped the attention of Shen-Ka the ruler of Radu. He has sent emissaries to the Bosses with pledges of friendship and military aid in case threats from the Sikkar become more serious. The Bosses aren’t too keen on any “help” from a sorcerer, and while they haven’t turned Radu’s ambassadors away they are wary of them.

A new Blog!

I started a new blog today to chronicle my journey of trying to get Evil DM Productions off the ground. I'm not sure how it will all turn out but I'm shooting for success. If any of you are interested in coming along for the ride please join me at The Evil DM Productions Blog I sure would welcome the company.

The tone will be a lot different from that set here at the Lair. I hope to keep it focused on my writing and publishing efforts. The Lair is my sandbox, I intend the EDMP blog to be a bit more focused. So no Wednesday girls or photodumps, but I hope to post some interesting content.

World of Broadsword-Spotlight: Belsa

Wulfgar is a "Friend of the Lair" and all around nice guy. Today he sent me a campaign map that he is using for his Labyrinth Lords game.
The map is of Belsa Province, one of the areas featured in the World of Broadsword. As I opened the file I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. This is what its all about people, not the money, the fame, the women (well maybe the women). It's about people liking your stuff enough to use it, tweak it, and make it their own.

And he did one hell of a job on it.

WoB has gotten a good reception and great reviews, and hearing that it's actually being used in play was a great feeling.


"World of Broadsword worked great for what I wanted it to do. I ran the game with Labyrinth Lords (the Moldvay D&D retro-clone) so I didn't use any of the 1PG rules or stats. I used the world info to lay out the game world and provide the players with some background and rumors."
Wulfgar

WoB & LoS

The April numbers for World of Broadsword are in it looks like I’ve sold about 100+ through RPGNow and Precis Intermedia. The reviews are really positive. The most recent one by the Chatty DM was an especially solid critique He applauded the use of the SWOT analysis used in the nations section and felt WoB had applications beyond the Broadsword RPG. I was happy to see that, WoB is designed for the Broadsword game I really want people to realize that it can be used for any type of low magic fantasy setting.

This last week I’ve been working on another gazetteer / adventure in the same vein as WoB but this one will be focusing on the classic pulp genre of the “Lost World” adventure. The supplement will have additional information specific to the Dime Heroes setting from Deep7 but it will also have much of the material in a generic format so as to be adaptable to just about any pulp adventure rule set.

I’m currently working to commission a cover for the Legends of Steel game with artist Jeremy Mohler. Thanks to the success of WoB I will be able get the snazziest cover I can afford. I’ll be using the characters I created with Jeff Hebert as the subjects on the cover.


Here is the last of the core characters I'll be using in the game. He has no name yet. Right now I'm calling him "Barbarian guy" - But I'll work on something better.

Karma Strikes! Ouch!

Well World of Broadsword has been out a couple of weeks and my feelings have run from nervous and anxious to happy and proud to frustrated. At first I was nervous. Would my fellow gamers like it? And if not how badly would they stick it to me? I know how we are. When it comes to giving our opinion or spotting an error, gamers are always thorough and very often brutal, especially when wearing a +5 cloak of internet anonymity. I know because I’ve been pretty damn snarky when I get my nerd tail feathers riled up. So I was prepared for the worst.

So far I’ve been lucky the reviews that I’ve seen have been overwhelmingly positive. So then I entered the “happy zone” as sales figures started to come in and WoB cracked the top ten at RPGNow. I will admit I checked everyday (Okay, several times everyday) to see how my ranking fared. I made a concerted effort not to be a pain in the ass to Heyoka studios and James by sending in constant inquiries for updates. I also tried to ride a fine line between letting people on the various boards I frequent know that I had a product out and becoming a pain in the ass “game pimper.” Some message boards have very strict rules on self promotion others don’t allow it at all. So for the most part I tried to keep it low key, adding a message on my signature line and/ or sending out free review copies to key people. Here at the Lair I was less restrained, but I figure this is my house and I can shout as much as I want.

Many of my friends especially in the Blogosphere answered the call and gave me and WoB a mention or an entire post on their Blogs. My only frustration is in the area of the online review. You see, all of the virtual stores that sell PDF games have a place where purchasers can post their thoughts on the products they have purchased. It’s very helpful when making a purchase, especially when the vendor is new and untried like me. Personally, I use it every time I consider a purchase. And I feel it’s often saved me time, money and frustration. Despite the decent sales WoB has seen, the online reviews for it have peaked at a whopping two (thankfully those two are positive reviews, *whew*).

Now I buy quite a bit from RPGNow and to be honest I only write reviews for a fraction of my purchases. Well Karma is a bitch huh? Now I know what it feels like to be on the other side of the counter. I recall the “Free RPG day” last year, I downloaded a ton of free stuff- I still haven’t even opened most of it- did I write any reviews or even show a bit of appreciation? Hell no. but I was there fattening up my hard drive like everyone else. And so I’ve partaken of a bit of a payback appetizer, and I’ve taken the lesson to heart. I will go back and try and post a few words about the purchases I’ve made, I’m still going to be objective and if I thought the product was crap I’ll say so. But at least I’ll say something. To some small extent, I’ve joined the ranks of these guys, of course my chair is way in the back by the broom closet, but still- I finally got a ticket to the dance. So it’s time to up the support.

It’s funny, as a parent I see many similarities as to how our intellectual offspring are cared for and how our children are. Like my minions, I know WoB is good, I know it’s valuable, and I want it to succeed. But just like any proud parent at a dance recital or Karate tournament I want everyone else to see it as well.

Evil DM Productions

OK. Now that I have your attention...

I finally have a website up.
It's a work in progress but it's up.
any helpful suggestions will be appreciated.
any of you "anonymous" guys with snide comments can bite me.

By the way, if you go to the "Free stuff" section there is a Hi Res copy of the World of Broadsword map (That is if I didn't screw up the links).

The World of Broadsword

Well friends, the wait is over. My first supplement for the Broadsword RPG has been released. The World of Broadsword is now available at DriveThruRPG and at Precis Intemedia Games (The folks who do the oh-so-cool Coyote Trail western RPG).

Here is the blurb from the upcoming website:

More advantages, more foes, more adventure!

The World of Broadsword is a sourcebook that expands upon the Broadsword RPG by offering new material for use by both players and referees.

Included in this expansion are:

*New advantages

*A bestiary of common animals as well as creatures of myth and legend

*A full color map and gazetteer of “The World of Broadsword”

*"The River Pirates of the Belsa." A brand new adventure set in the World of Broadsword

The World of Broadsword was created to be used as an official campaign setting for the Broadsword Roleplaying game. However, the setting and adventures are written so that they could easily be adapted to just about any system.


The World of Broadsword is Available now as a PDF download for only $3.95 at DriveThruRPG and Precis Intermedia Games.

If any of you do decide to purchase it, please be sure to leave some honest feedback over at RPGNow. Word of mouth is about all I have in my marketing budget. so every bit helps.

The World of Broadsword

I received a draft of the World of Broadsword from James Stubbs at Heyoka Studios the other day. He wanted me to give it a once over for final approval. I'm very pleased with the final product. It will definitely be available by the end of next week (April). I'm also trying to put the final nails in the "Official" Evil DM Productions website. Hopefully, the release of The World of Broadsword will coincide with the opening of the website. I'm a total newbie to all of this so the actual selling of the game will be done through Heyoka Studios RPGNow storefront.

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.

I finally finished the Broadsword expansion. If it all survives the Editors pen this is what’s included:
• A bunch of new advantages.
• A bestiary of common animals as well as creatures of myth and legend.
• A color map and gazetteer of “The World of Broadsword”
• An adventure called The River Pirates of the Belsa.

The 1PG system provides a lot of different cinematic genres to adventure in, but they never got around to releasing a general list of critters for characters to fight. Personally I hate number crunching so I took to the bestiary like a kid eating lima beans, but it had to be done.
I was much more at home writing up the gazetteer. I recall many a day on the bus to and from work, having a great time reading the various write ups for the nations of Oerth and Toril. For Broadsword I wrote capsules of information on the different nations and places of interest. I tried to give each place a personality and a hook for adventuring. I mentioned in an earlier Blog post that I took a tip from a marketing class in college and used the S.W.O.T analysis method (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and applied it to each nation entry, I think overall it was a good fit. As I finished each nation I began to see patterns and conflicts arising amongst the various lands, I took that as a sign that I was on the right path.
The final challenge was writing up an adventure. Normally 1PG products come with several “mini” or “Side trek” style adventures. I started out that way but soon found the adventure writing itself. So I decided to just go with it. The adventure is called “The River Pirates of the Belsa”. Here’s how I described it on the Deep7 message board:

River Pirates of the Belsa
the PC's are hired by a wealthy businessman to apprehend the brigand responsible for his son's death. The quarry though is no mere footpad. He is the River Pirate "Joubert" scourge of the Belsa River, who leads a band of one hundred cutthroats, outlaws, and thieves, and lives in a hidden fortress deep in the Great Forest.
The heroes must travel into the Great Forest, avoid the beasts and wild tribesmen that call it home, find this elusive brigand and bring him to justice.
Piece of cake.

The more I wrote, the more it became clear to me that the adventure, and the gazetteer for that matter, could be used for just about any game system. There isn’t any reason this couldn’t be played with D20, Fudge, GURPS, HERO or any other system. I’m hoping the reviewers see that possibility as well. So now it’s in the hands of the folks at Heyoka.

I want to give a special shout out to Tim, Troy, Gabe, Conan, and Marc for their “Peer Review” of my efforts. Just when I thought I was done, you guys showed me I wasn’t. Thanks!

The State of the Lair

Computer
I picked up another 160GB HD today. I also bought a 2GB pocket flash drive, some antivirus software, and spy ware protection. The new drive will hold all my system stuff and the old drive will be for files and such. I have lots of room now, but I’ll soon rectify that!
I’m hoping that “She who must be obeyed” will soon let me take my nuts down off the wall where she stapled them after the crash, but I’m not pushing it.
I’ll be looking into this thing they call “backing up” as well.

Star Frontiers PBEM
One guy left my PBEM, and he was integral to the story, so I’ll have to see how that goes. Between the holidays and the crash I’m sure the guys in my game feel a bit abandoned, hopefully we can salvage something from it.

Broadsword
Before the crash I was puttering along with the Broadsword expansion. The expansion itself is done, but James wanted three scenarios. I was halfway through completing the first when the crash happened. So I have to wrap my head around that again.

Legends of Steel
My work on Legends of Steel continues, the players section is done and the GM part is almost done. One of the artists I hired hasn’t responded to any emails since before Christmas. I paid her for a couple of pieces of art but haven’t seen or heard anything from her.

Mission Adventure
One of the guys looking over LoS is really pushing me to try writing “Mission: Adventure!” with the LoS rules-set rather than the FASERIP (Aka: four-color) system. He makes a good argument, since I have a system engine in place why use a different one? The LoS engine was primarily built around a low tech campaign, all I need to do is develop firearm, and vehicle rules, swap out magic for Psionics, and add some more contemporary skills.

ZeFRS
I’m really intrigued by this idea of using ZeFRS as the engine for an alternate earth campaign world set in the “Dark Ages”. I found a great deal on EBay for a run of Arak comics and found some more at the local comic store for 50% off. Thanks as well to those of you who wrote in with book tips and suggestions.


Gen Con
One of my favorite quotes is: “If you ever want give God a good laugh, tell him your plans”. Gen Con ain’t gonna happen this year.
After the car wreck I was out of work for almost three months. Not only out of work but out of car as well. Add in the holiday expenses and things were getting a little dicey here at the Lair. I’m back at work, and we are slowly climbing our way out of past due notices, but Gen Con is an extravagance that wont be realized this year. The medical bills are still being incurred and they are being paid, but we are a ways away from any talk of settlement, so for now we just tighten the belt and soldier on, as my littlest minion would say: “Suck it up like Conan daddy!”

Broadsword news and a good ol' Rant

I just sent the first draft of the Broadsword Expansion I to Heyoka Studios.
Hopefully James will like it and give it a good going over with his editorial pen. We may see it on sale by the New Year.

Now that the first Broadsword expansion is off to editing, my next project will be to finish up “For Love and Honor".

Just as a refresher, "For Love and Honor” (L&H) will be a full-sized adventure for the Idyll 1PG game. It takes place in a mythical world known as Aurora, during a period similar to our Victorian age, yup a Victorian Adventure – not “steam punk” I hate that term.

L&H will be an homage to works like "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Mad King". There are elements of magic, fantastic creatures, and heroic romance.

I'm a visual type of person, so first off I'm creating a map of the portion of Aurora that will be featured in the adventure. After which I will apply my notes to the locales and let the adventure spill out of my head and onto the page.

After L&H I will be giving LoS some much needed attention. The artwork for the game has been slow in coming, but I’m hoping that situation will change in the New Year. I have one group headed by Tim of Heropress that will be running a play-test of the rules very soon.

I’ve received a number of requests and offers to review and play test LoS and I have been remiss in answering some of those inquiries, I do apologize. At the present I’ve decided to hold off on sending anymore copies of LoS out for review or play testing.
The main reason being, that for all the copies I’ve sent out I’ve only gotten the tiniest tinkle of feedback.
Here’s how it generally works, I get a private email telling me how much they enjoy the Blog and love the S&S genre, then they ask if they can take a look at the game and help out with critiquing or maybe play testing it with their group. I send out a copy to them with a heartfelt thank you and a few notes on what I would like them to pay attention to. After that, a few weeks pass, and I hear NOTHING, I send an email wondering how it’s going…NOTHING.
Was it that bad? Did it suck so much that they fell off the face of the earth and they can’t even flip me one on the way down? I don’t know. If they at least dropped me a line and said:

“Hey Jeff, about your game? IT SUCKS! Bye.”

At least then I would have some closure. But like my Drill Sgt. used to say “you got screwed without even the decency of getting a reach-around.”

So I’m kinda done with sending out copies. It’s like loaning a book out to a buddy and then never getting it back. From that point on the relationship is always tainted. If you’re a reader you know just what I’m talking about.

Now that’s not to say everyone has done this, Thank God. I have received a great deal of help from close friends, gaming buddies, and internet friends. Gabriel B, Tim, Pmikey, Doc Holaday, Dabos, Walker P, Rock viper, Jeff H, Nate, Tony, and MG, immediately come to mind, there are others. Because of you guys I know the game is worth the effort. I thank you for the honest and at times tough critiquing that you have given LoS so far.

Wow, that was a rant. I haven’t ranted on my Blog in awhile…felt good though.

The State of the Lair

I mentioned a few posts ago that despite the accident, I wasn’t gonna turn this into an “Oh woe is me” blog. But there have been a few requests as to my well-being (and by the way thank you for the thoughts). So okay, a small update: I’m off work (doctor’s orders), convalescing. I had an MRI the other day and was diagnosed with Severe Spinal Stenosis. It sounds bad huh? Well it ain't life threatening but it sure hurts like hell, especially after a long day. I have an appointment to see a Neurosurgeon to see if anything can be done to help the pain. I hope so.


LoS
I had planned a big play test of LoS for the weekend following the accident. Since the accident that session has been put on hold indefinitely. I’m still working on LoS, mostly campaign and GM stuff. The game itself is ready to play. Art, editing and formatting are all that needs to be done.

Broadsword
The Broadsword expansion is about done. I was stuck for the longest time on a section but Tim K (Heropress Blog) helped me out and rescued me from the rut I was mired in. Many thanks good Sir Knight.

So far the Broadsword expansion has:

*6 new Advantages

*A color map of “The World of Broadsword”

*A gazetteer giving a brief overview of over a dozen realms and locations for running adventures. Now keep in mind this is a 1PG project okay? What I mean is don’t expect nation write ups that go on for three pages. I give a brief look at the realm in question and do a S.W.O.T analysis that offers adventure opportunities and hooks.

*A bestiary that offers 1PG write-ups for over forty common and not so common creatures.

*I’m also thinking of tossing in a little something about coinage and equipment lists, since that seems to be something quite a few people felt was lacking (equipment lists-oh joy).

Idyll
My adventure for the Idyll 1PG, “For Love and Honor” an ode to Romantic adventure in the vein of “The Mad King” and “The Prisoner of Zenda” is still in the works. If all goes well it might even be released to coincide with the DVD release of Stardust.

4Color Adventure!
I was complaining a few weeks back about the whole FASERIP fiasco, feeling that it was never gonna come out. Well it did, so I can shut up now. And more than that, I can actually DO something with it. And the something is 4Color Adventure! Or, as its affectionately known here at the Lair, the “Not another damn Pulp game” project.
That’s right, I’m taking the 4-C “toolkit” and I’m gonna see if I can shoe horn some pulp style rules into it. Including an attempt to get out of the 1930’s pulp box and try some post WWII pulp adventure Ala- Johnny Quest, GI Joe, Man from U.N.C.L.E, and the Destroyer books.