Just little bit more pimping on my Blog and then we'll get back to Wednesday girls.

For a limited time I put Legends of Steel -Barbarians of Lemuria Edition and Legends of Steel - Savage Worlds Edition, on sale for 30% off at Lulu. 

LoS /BoL is a hardback and LoS / SW is a softback.

This is for a limited time only (the next few days anyway).  

I happen to be in a good mood (see Dicey Tales).

Legends of Steel Cyber Monday sale at Lulu

25% off all Paperback and Hardcover Books
Coupon code: CYBERBOOKS

Perfect time to purchase that new copy of

Legends of Steel - Barbarians of Lemuria Edition in Hardback.

Or Legends of Steel - Savage Worlds Edition in soft back.

TGTT says LoSSW is "AWESOME"!

Today LoS was reviewed by Ron and Veronica Blessing, the hosts of the RPG Podcast "The Games The Thing". 

LoS was given the "Awesome" rating. For those of you not in the know The Games The Thing is to Savage Worlds as what Entertainment Tonight is to Hollywood. So for a neophyte RPG publisher like me it's a pretty big deal.

Unfortunately it wasn't all Teddy bears and roses. They had a few concerns over some of the Edges I wrote and also with the layout. But I'm taking it in a positive light, as things to improve on in future endeavors. 

The bottom line though is that after reading LoS it made them want to play in a Sword & Sorcery game, and as a writer, that was the best endorsement I could ask for. 

Please stop by and give the review a listen.

Legends of Steel-Savage Worlds Edition is out! *Special offer*

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to announce that Evil DM Productions is offering for a limited time the Legends of Steel –Savage Worlds Edition for the discounted price of $10.00 ($2.00 off the regular price).

This special offer ends Sunday 03/29/2009 at 11:59pm PST.

This package includes the 70 page PDF of Legends of Steel – Savage Worlds Edition, a printer friendly version, and a high resolution map.

Please make payment via Paypal to Evil DM Productions Boojiesdad@gmail.com

Spread the word.

Thanks.

Evil DM update

Just to let you all know that I have been hard at work on not only the ZeFRS version of Legends of Steel but also on Lost World of Hador. This explains my lack of posting and presence on some of the message boards I usually frequent. I can easily blow half a day just reading blogs and looking at funny pictures.

So if the posting is sparse, it’s because I’m actually trying to be productive.

Legends of Steel is at layout. I heard from James via email this weekend and we went over a couple of design things. It is being worked on and will come out as soon as It possibly can.

Lulu is starting to look like a viable option for those who want a printed copy in their hands (I know I want one at least). So I’m tackling that.

Hador is coming along nicely, Ryan is making good progress on the map, Joffrey is coloring the cover art, and I’m getting all my thoughts onto paper.

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…

The end is near.

Legends of Steel- Savage Worlds Edition is going through a second round of editing. This should be the last hoop. The cover and interior art are all ready. Following this last bit of editing it's off to Heyoka to be scheduled for Layout.


I've found a cover artist for Lost World of Hador. We are currently tweaking the sketches. Ryan is working on the map and the manuscript is coming along nicely. Hador should follow right on the heels of Legends of Steel by a month or two, and then it's time for serious work on Mission: Adventure!

Legends of Steel Cover (Proposed)

Well folks Here is the proposed cover for Legends of Steel- "Savage Worlds" edition.

The art is by Jeremy Mohler. The layout is by me with a lot of help from friends (you know who you are).

Any similarity to the classic Marvel comics of the 70's is purely intentional.

The High Chaparral as an LoS campaign

Back in April of '07 I posted about an idea I had after reading a book called the Spider's Test. The idea was to have a campaign revolving around settlers in a new land carving a new life out for themselves. I made mention in passing that The High Chaparral television series would make a good template for this type of adventure.

Recently I've had the opportunity to watch the complete series from its first episode onward, and my feeling is stronger than ever that this would make a great campaign for a mature group of players who enjoy a little role playing mixed in with their hacking and slashing.

For those of you who may not familiar with The High Chaparral, here is a quick synopsis clipped from The High Chaparral Homepage:

One of the most successful and highly acclaimed Westerns on television was The High Chaparral, the name of the ranch owned by the Cannon family in the Arizona Territory during the 1870's. Stubborn, determined, 50-year-old John Cannon is the patriarch of the family with ambitions to establish a cattle empire while finding a way to co-exist with the Apaches and the Mexicans just across the border. To help him, he has his younger brother Buck, who can out-drink, out-shoot, out-fight, and when motivated, out-work any man alive. He also has his son, Billy Blue, a young man in his early 20's, whose mother is killed in the first episode. In an arranged marriage intended to keep peace with the neighbors, John then marries an aristocratic Mexican beauty, Victoria Montoya, daughter of Don Sebastian Montoya, a wealthy Sonoran rancher. Her brother, Manolito, accompanies Victoria to the Cannon ranch as her guardian, staying on as a member of the household even after the arranged marriage turns to one of substance and trust.
Created and produced by David Dortort, the genius behind Bonanza, the writing was superb with plenty of action and biting dialog. The series strove for realism...the sweat, the dirt, the heat, the desert...even the Apaches who worked on the set as extras were real. And it explored culture and class conflicts among white Americans, Mexicans, and various Indian tribes at a level not attempted before or since by a television Western.

I started thinking where and how would I fit the premise for The High Chaparral into one of my own games? I settled on an area south of the city of Al-Khalid right at the foot of the Drujistan mountains.

Here is my outline:

An ex-adventurer from Tyros decides to settle down and try his hand at raising cattle. He finds his opportunity in the Southern Kingdom of Al-Khalid. Using the wealth he has managed to save over the years he purchases a large piece of land at the foot of the Drujistan mountains. His intention is to import and raise cattle for sale to the Southern kingdoms. With him are his brother, and his son and daughter.
In addition he brings a dozen or so trusted men and their families, with promises that after 5 years of service he will help establish each on their own plots of land. The settlers travel by ship from Pyrani to Al-Khalid and then drive their cattle to the land at the base of the mountain.



When they get to the land they discover the following:

* The land is beautiful but harsh, there is sufficient water and grazing land but just enough, and it must be managed wisely.

* There are other more established land owners. Amongst them a powerful Nobleman/Merchant whose fortune comes from raising sheep. his stock has been grazing on the land up until now. As stated before he is powerful and has a small army of henchmen at his command.

* There are mountain tribesmen- The Jaga and the Morgal (AKA Apache & Navajo) they are in constant contention with the land owners the city of Al-Khalid and each other.

* Some of the merchants in the city of Al-Khalid would be very happy to see this venture fail since domestic beef would cut into their profits from the imported beef they now supply the city with. they will use their influence to see that the government and the military give as little aid a s possible to these foreigners.

* Toss in your occasional wandering monsters, beastmen, ancient ruins, skirmishes and intrigues and this could really turn into a sweet little campaign.

Danger Magnet Magazine Premier Issue

Danger Magnet is a brand new Gaming magazine specifically geared towards Pulp adventure. The offerings are written for the Ubiquity gaming system, the system used for Exile Games “Hollow Earth Expeditions”, but they can be very easily adapted to any pulp style system with very little effort.

First off, I have to say the magazine is beautiful. It sports a wonderful action packed cover full of pulp flavor. The layout is crisp and stylish. I was very impressed by the look of Danger Magnet.

Since this is a PDF product I have to suggest two points to consider in future issues.

#1 Numbered pages. The table of contents has page references but as I printed it up there were no page numbers.
#2 No black backgrounds. Black backgrounds eat up a lot of ink and may keep people from printing it up. Making the magazine as “printer friendly” as possible will insure that your readers print up a copy and use it rather than looking at it once and then leaving it on their hard drive to soon be forgotten.

The feature articles include:

Professor Scrumtumbler’s BEASTiary
A “New Monsters” feature that not only introduces new creatures but also offers hooks for using them in adventures. This issue featured “Tomb Beetles” very similar to the ones that wreaked havoc in the movie “The Mummy” (1992).

The Society Page
This issue was devoted to Howard Carter the archeologist responsible for discovering King Tutankhamen’s tomb. It also gave information on incorporating Professor Carter into the “Hollow Earth” game world. This article also offered hooks or “Seeds” to help get the Professor involved in your campaign. Good stuff.

Next up is an adventure titled “The Thule Death Ray”
This is a nice solid adventure (with handouts) that adds Game master tips for setting mood and describing conditions by the sense. Good tips that even experienced game masters forget from time to time.

The Twelve Talismans of Tali’ Theus
This article introduces a dozen items for use in your adventures, either as rewards, treasures to discover or heirlooms to be passed down in the battle against the forces of evil.

Desolation
This appears to be a licensed product for the Ubiquity system. A bit of D&D meets Gamma World as the survivors of a post apocalyptic fantasy world struggle for survival. This offering is a locale (a cave complex) that can be inserted in a campaign. I would have preferred a write up of desolation itself. Something that would tell me in detail what the game offers and such. While the article was well written, I think it would have better been left for a future issue, after a introduction article to Desolation was done.

Finally we have an article called “Tools of the trade”
“Tools of the trade” goes over, in nice detail, the various accoutrements used by Indian Jones on his various adventures. Very well researched and fun. This is the type of “Meat and Potatoes” article that I love, very useful to any Pulp GM no matter the system being used.

The whole issue comes in at a healthy 35 pages, and was a very enjoyable read with quite a few handy tips and adventure ideas.

This premiere issue is free, though you can donate a few bucks to the cause.

For those of us who enjoy Pulp gaming we have been experiencing a renaissance as of late with great games like Savage Worlds, Spirit of the Century, Hollow Earth Expeditions, Dime Heroes and Two Fisted Tales, just to name a few. But what we haven’t seen is a magazine that addresses the genre in full and with such style as Danger Magnet. I would implore all of you to not only download the free copy but to also pony up a few bucks to insure that this effort continues. The production values of this magazine are excellent and rival any other PDF product out there. $5.00 is a very decent price for the amount of content that you’re getting. So be sure to give Danger Magnet a chance, I’m positive you won’t be disappointed. And be sure to tell them the Evil DM sent ya!

Colonial Pulp Hero - The Black Coat

"The Black Coat is America's first superspy! Set in New York City in the days before the Revolutionary War, The Black Coat fights against the British and forces of the occult to protect the burgeoning nation."

-Black coat website





Check out a free online issue.

Savage Worlds Black Coat campaign anyone? The Solomon Kane rules are out there, It would probably be a nice easy conversion.

There's also Colonial Gothic and Colonial Record (Hell' I just noticed the Colonial record "Bundle" which includes the Coyote trail core rules is only $8.00, now THATS a bargain).

Here is my take on The Black Coat Action Figure...

Official map of Erisa for the "Legends of Steel" game

Here is a sneak peek at the "Official map of Erisa" for the Legends of Steel-Savage Worlds Edition.



for more about it and LoSSW stop by the EDMP Blog

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.

Black Canaan - Savaged!

You know it was a good game when you’re still talking about it the next day!

Last night I ran my first session of Savage Worlds, and a good time was had by all.

It was a Pulp setting using “Seasoned” level characters and an adventure in the Louisiana Bayou country adapted from the short story “Black Canaan” a pulp classic written by Robert E. Howard.

The players were my oldest minion Anthony, and four other good friends. We had one experienced Deadlands player but everyone else was totally new to the system, though we caught on real quick.

As all gamers out there know, you can read and reread the rules till you can quote passages verbatim and you can roll up dozens of characters but none of it compares to actually sitting down and playing the game.

We soon learned what edges we should have taken and what actions worked for the group and what didn’t. Combat was really quite different from anything we had ever experienced, and that wasn’t a bad thing it was just different. We soon wrapped our heads around things like the extra D6 that all PC's get to roll, and the fact that if for instance, you do a D8 damage and happen to roll an 8 you get to roll again, and if you roll another 8, then you roll again -and so on.

Our first combat encounter wasn’t fast and furious but it sure was fun. Each encounter thereafter went smoother than the last. And what started as a one shot pick-up game may very well turn into a regular game of choice. We have another game tentatively scheduled for week after next, at which time I turn over the GM duties to one of the other guys and actually get to play!

The work begins

Wow. Since the news the other day of Pinnacle granting Evil DM Productions a Savage World license, things here at the Lair have been busy indeed. In addition to porting over material for the Legends of Steel conversion, I have been in contact with both Heyoka Studios and artist Jeremy Mohler to discuss various aspects of getting LoS ready to go.

I’m pleased to announce that Heyoka will continue layout and distribution for LoS as it did for World of Broadsword. And Jeremy is slated to produce the cover for Legends of Steel-The Savage Worlds Edition.

I’m not going too overboard though in discussing my plans for the line, I’m kind of worried about jinxing myself. As gamers we have all seen dozens of great ideas and big announcements trumpeted across the net only to be abandoned and forgotten for lack of follow-through or just bad luck. Which is sad really; Because whatever your personal feelings about a system or campaign world, that system or world was somebody’s dream, and to see a dream fizzle and die sucks.

So you may not hear me talk about this LoS project too much in the future tense. When I do hit a milestone I’ll give y’all a heads up though. Thanks for the emails of encouragement, they really do help keep me focused.

Happy Birthday USA!

First off Happy 4th of July!

We ain't perfect, but there is no other place I'd rather live.


Writing

When discussing the D20 OGL I always said "Now days any idiot with a computer and a pirated copy of Adobe Acrobat can call himself a game publisher".

Yesterday I became that idiot.

I'm still all giddy about Evil DM Productions being granted a License to produce material for Savage Worlds. Now the work begins.

In addition to Legends of Steel I have several other projects to port over to the Savage Worlds system. Yesterday I managed to get in a few hours of writing. It wasn't solid, focused uninterrupted writing, it was more of the kind where you are constantly dealing with "Daddy, Nick wont play with me."
"Daddy what are you doing?"
"Daddy I'm bored."

I guess the answer would be to write when every one else is asleep. But that's when I want to sleep too. I know there are a few writers who visit here- how the hell do you guys balance things?

Gaming

Last night while writing I got to thinking about a couple of gaming combos that would be real cool.

A while back I mentioned mixing Savage Worlds with the TV series Jack of all Trades. Last night I was thinking about using Savage Worlds for spy/pulp/low powered supers campaign using the world of the Black Coat.

The Black Coat is a title from Ape Entertainment. The Black Coat is a colonial version of the Shadow / Zorro/ and the Phantom. Very cool premise.

I think Rob Rogers made mention of colonial era supers in his Devil's Cape universe as well.

I'm thinking this might also work with Precise Intermedia's Colonial Record or Colonial Gothic from Rogue games.

Another thought that occured to me is taking the Venture Bros. Cartoon and adapting it with Toon from Steve Jackson games. I haven't played Toon in years. Venture Bros. is damn funny and with the right GM a Toon version of the Venture Bros. would be hilarious!





OK back to work.

The Lair has been Savaged!

Evil DM Productions has just been given permission from Pinnacle Entertainment Group to produce material for their Savage Worlds line of Role playing games. As an official licensee, Evil DM Productions has the green light to convert Legends of Steel to the Savage World rules. Christmas in July my friends!