SAGAWORK STUDIOS

UPDATES TO PRODUCT IDENTITY

2011-02-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

Just a short post today, mainly for contemporaneous purposes. I have made some changes to the Product Identity page. Items have been added include:

STARFINDER
STARFARER Space-Opera Roleplay
STARFARER Campaign Codex.

I am working with Thomas Kalbfus in developing STARFINDER for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. More on that soon.

HORROR AT DAGGER ROCK TO BE TRANSLATED TO FRENCH

2011-01-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Christophe Leclere from www.pathfinder-fr.org recently contacted me about translating Horror at Dagger Rock into French. I have given him my blessing for Horror at Dagger Rock to become and will be known as L'horreur au Roc de la Dague. There is something kinda ego-boosting about knowing that my work will be in more than one language. Christophe and I have already translatied the cover panels, which may be viewed by clicking on the link above. The maps are the next collaborative part, before Christophe begins work on the body of the text.

Godspeed, Christophe and good luck!

I am sure that the results will be fantastic. I think that I will ask Christophe to do a French translation for Temple of the Kraken.

TEMPLE OF THE KRAKEN COVER ART

2011-01-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Not much news today. This is the final artwork for Temple of the Kraken. I may still have to play around with a few colors, but this is what you will see when the PDF goes on sale.

You can view a more detailed image here.

Yeah. I *am* getting better at this desktop publishing stuff!

FOR ONCE YOU START DOWN THE DARK PATH; FOREVER WILL IT DOMINATE YOUR DESTINY…

2011-01-02T02:19:00.000-08:00

I was going to call this TEARS & TANTRUMS™ RPG. But I feel this heading is more apt, since I have corrupted little minds.

Firstly, I probably should explain: My father-in-law Doug Williams recently visited us and he brought along our niece and two nephews. Kayla is age 10 and Kane and Ashley are twin boys, age 7. Being an impromptu visit by the latter three, I was kinda thrown aback when it was announced that they would be staying with us for four days. As I am still working two jobs these days (writing and factory working), I knew that trying to write in our 2 bedroom home would be merely pretence, so I swallowed my pride and let that go for those days. I

remembered a little while ago early 2010 when I was entertaining the thought of having both of our families visit us for Christmas in Bega. One of the activities I planned to do was to introduce Kayla, Kane and Ashley to Fighting Fantasy, specifically Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

I have posted about WoFTM before. Pundits will know that this book was first published in 1982. I remember receiving it via the primary school book club in 1983. As a December baby, the astute of you will calculate that I was 10 when I first challenged the creatures of the underworld therein. I surmised that Kayla perhaps mature enough to do the same. However, I didn't just want to throw the book in her lap, along with two dice, a pencil and an eraser, and then expect her to instantly find the book cool.

I did the next best thing: I read it to her. Like a Dungeon Master would.

Naturally, Kane and Ashley wanted in on the action. So I briefly explained the concepts of SKILL, STAMINA, LUCK and the basics of combat. During this process, I watched each of the kids roll their respective d6s for their attributes.

Finally, three adventurers stood before me, awaiting the horrors of Firetop Mountain:

KANE, the Swordsman.
KAYLA the Amazon.
ASH the Axe-battler.

I read out the ‘RUMOURS’ section of the book, making special note to emphasise the part about the Warlock’s magical power. There was a lot of text to get through and I could see already that I was losing the twins rapidly. Then, I showed them the picture of the mountain, and how it looked as if the cliff face had been savaged by some gargantuan beast.

‘Whoa! Look at the skulls on the post! I wonder what lives in the caves?’

I had them hooked. We had a great time. It took us three days to get to the inner sanctum of the Warlock (I helped them a little with the Maze of Zagor).

* * * * * * * * *

NO TEARS & TANTRUMS™ GAMEBOOK ROLEPLAYING.

Here are a few suggestions that may help when introducing youngsters to (the dark and evils of!) Roleplaying Games.

START SIMPLE: When exposing youngsters to RPGs, please remember that you are exposing them to concepts that may be alien and a little frightening to them. Take it slow and start with something simple.

KNOW YOUR GAMEBOOK: If possible, play through the book yourself and make notes. Keep an eye out for things which might be frustrating, quarrel-inducing and the like. It will help you to manage things when it comes time for the children to play.

BEHAVIOUR AT THE TABLE: A zero tolerance of children fighting/quarrelling with others is a good start. Reinforce that your word is final.

DICE: Let the dice fall where they may. As you might expect in my game, there were a lot of 6s rolled during the character creation process, but thankfully as the game wore on (mainly because after ‘magically’ rolling a ‘6’, imagine their surprise when that number came straight off their respective STAMINA), they were all inclined to let the dice fall where they may. Watch their rolls if you need to and admonish them for not rolling properly or are caught cheating. All rolls not made on the table do not count. To not tolerate tears/tantrums from those who roll low at a crucial juncture. This is a game.

MATH: Encourage them to add up their own numbers. Do not help them to speed play.

CHEATING: Thankfully this did not come up for me, but I was prepared to impose some harsh penalties (like missing out on treasure for 3 goes).

DECISION MAKING: As there were three players, I gave each of them a vote. The majority vote dictated the decision of the party. For impasses, have players must throw two dice and whoever gets the highest, gets to make the decision for the party.

TREASURE: Try and divide treasure evenly if you can, but do not adjust the amounts of gold dictated in the book.

ITEMS: Pass out the first item yourself and then explain who gets the second, third (and so on). This establishes an acceptable routine for them to follow. As an alternative, have the children roll two dice at the start of the adventure to determine who gets the first item. In some instances, I used large amounts of gold as an item to offset the other two getting something.

NARRATING: Practice your narrating skills. It helps to treat it like a bedtime storybook. Try and avoid a monotonous tone when reading out descriptive text. Don’t forget to show them pictures if you have them.

COMBAT: Try and run combats as written if you can, but do not be afraid of adding in extra monsters if you need to. For Fighting Fantasy, brush up on your rules for ‘Fighting more than One Opponent.’ Also, make it exciting; like you would if you were Dungeon Mastering for a group of your regular friends. Just saying ‘Miss, Hit, Hit’ gets boring very quickly.

MAPPING: Draw the map for them, so they understand how to do it.

Children are quick studies and learnt their boundaries fast. Despite my having to shut down play at one point, I only had to do it once. They understood the consequences of bad behaviour.

* * * * * * * * *

DAY 3: THE WARLOCK’S SANCTUM

On the morning of the day they were leaving for Great Aunty Shirley (they call her Aunty Grandma); they finally burst through into the Warlock’s sanctum. After robbing him of his power (which they remembered from RUMOURS), they defeated him in combat and set about looting his chest. They found to their dismay that despite them having three keys, only two of them were correct. I fully expected either one or both the twins to have a fit.

Kane said: ‘Right! I hit the chest with my sword!’ Ashley and Kayla also agreed to do the same thing.

I followed their lead and backtracked a few references, as giving them the option for doing so had already passed. The thunderous rumbling once again filled the air and everyone was required to Test your Luck. Kane was unlucky that time and ended up a sooty outline upon the floor.

This is it: The time where indelible marks are left upon people’s minds and souls.

‘Hahaha! Cool!’ Exclaimed Kane and Ashley. “Can we keep this book so we can try again?”

“Sure.” I said, smiling.

But remember: For once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

It was time to go, so I gave them their map, some pencils and some dice each. I also gave them some books to take with them.

So long, my old friend. I will miss you.

Those days playing Warlock of Firetop Mountain with Kayla, Kane and Ashley have stayed with me, reminding me of a time when I played Blood Sword with Mark and Adrian James. (Blood Sword –incidentally-- is set in the same world as Dragon Warriors). Blood Sword is a series of 4 game books that (ended weirdly) could be played with up to 4 players. I loved Blood Sword as it eliminated the need for a Dungeon Master and yet was still an RPG of sorts. We three ate those books alive.

I am eager to do this again: I hope my niece and nephews feel the same way when next we meet. I am dying to try Deathtrap Dungeon or even Return to Firetop Mountain as a multiplayer book.

HERE ENDETH THE SABBATICAL

2010-12-29T06:14:00.001-08:00

One of the things that surprised me the most is the HUGE swathe of RPGS (being retroclones, variant RPGs et.al.) now (or soon to be) available, that are –in some way, shape or form—Dungeons and Dragons Simulacrums. The concept is common enough now that it has its own wiki entry. I find it hard to try and group the bulk of these under one banner, and I think that describing them as a Simulacrum is possibly the best term I can use: I use it to describe retroclones, reimaginings, revisions, or whatever you wish to call them. So, with apologies to each of them:

Swords and Wizardry
Labyrinth Lord
Castles & Crusades
Raven Crowking’s Fantasy Game
Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
For Gold and Glory
Old School Reference and Index Compilation (OSRIC)
Dark Dungeons
Realm of Geeking (Chris Perkins’) AD&D3
Basic Fantasy Roleplay

I am sure there are others. I have spent the last week trying to track down and collate them, so if I have missed yours please let me know and I shall edit this post J

You see, I love old school. Similarly, my mission statement is to bring ‘Old School to a New Edition.’ Pretty corny --I know-- but it is something that means a lot to me, and I don’t mean that in the way being all well and good by slap Benguiat Bold or FritzQuadrata Bold on top of a heading and claim that it is old school; I mean that in design and execution to the nth degree, regardless on how long it takes me (sorry to those waiting on Temple of the Kraken; it will be done soon. Not 2010, but soon).

Getting back to the Dungeons and Dragons Simulacrums, a lot of them appeal to me, especially old school looking/feeling/(however-you-quantify-it) RPGs. The thing is, when I drilled down into a number of them, I found things I didn’t like. These things shall remain nameless, because they range from personal taste to marketing perspectives, nothing more.

So, I even toyed with the idea of making my own.

The thing is, there are so many damn Dungeons & Dragons Simulacrums out there, my audience will be small at best, and were I to release my own RPG --I fear it would be lost among the crowd. Also: The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is something that I am following with interest; Adventure, Dungeons and Danger was born from Goodman Games leaving for 4^thEdition D&D and I am pleased to see that Goodman Games taking back a little ‘old school’ with their DCC line by launching their own RPG. I will have to wait and see what is in store there and I hope that I will like what I see.

As an aside (and to shake you all up), perhaps this dalliance is born from having cold feet with PFRPG? Without trying to scare people; I really don’t know the answer to that. As an adventure writer (and a poor one at that, given the lack of releases over this year), I need to believe in the aspects of the game I am writing for. I’ll be honest and say that I have been dismayed with some of the threads on Paizo’s forums, which has made me sit up and ask a few questions. These threads have ranged from people complaining about key aspects of recent releases, character class makeup and a variety of other things. It is these things that have made me sit up and ask myself:

‘Can I really bring ‘Old School to a New Edition’?

So, yeah; whilst on this sabbatical, working in the SunGold Milk Factory 40 hours a week to pay for the horrors which have made up 2010, I have looked over the fence (long-time readers will note that I have looked farther afield some time ago as a means to expand my audience) to see what is over there. Thing is, the grass might be greener in some places. It is a patchwork farmland.

I got into this game to be an adventure writer. I believe in PFRPG and I will continue to support them and you for some time to come.

OTHER NEWS:

Temple of the Kraken is tight. It is not finished, but it is tight. Wait for it. Roll some 4^th or 5^th level characters and put them aside, just for this. It is good.

I will even let slip here two ideas I have for a next module:

Gothic Horror Supermodule. Whilst I would like to take my time and write an Adventure Path the size of Paizo’s, I need to be realistic. This supermodule follows the discovery of a lost legacy within the demon-haunted forests of Tranfax. I am looking at the size and scope of ‘Scourge of the Slavelords’ as an estimate and will either release the adventure episodically (in standard module sizes) after I write it and/or release the whole ‘A1-4’ (so-to-speak) as an entire book
Continue in the vein of ‘Horror at Dagger Rock’ and ‘Temple of the Kraken’ and write stand-alone adventure set an ancient desert city. This module would feature a ‘game within a game’, tricks, traps and lovecraftian horror amid the shadows of an ancient tower. The PCs (if successful), would become the honored rulers of a city.

Thank you to everyone who has bought Rel-Draxa. I am now the proud owner of Campaign Cartographer 3, Dungeon Designer 3 and various add-ons and annuals. I cannot wait to see how our world turns out.

Thus, here endeth the sabbatical: 2011 is going to be tiring but satisfyingly successful. Happy New Year!

To take you out is the picture attached to this post: The 'Fell Captain' of the Temple of the Kraken. The image is © David Fisher. Enjoy.

SWORDS & SANITY

2010-08-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well now, hey there and welcome back! My partner and I have moved from Bega, in New South Wales, to Stawell in Victoria. It looks as if we will have another move to accomplish in the next few weeks, this time to Warrnambool, where my family informs me, lies our future. For latecomers, my parents' tenuous health have necessitated that I move closer to be within a few hours' drive in case of emergency. My partner (god bless her) has already picked up work as a Lab Technician meaning that we are nearly back on track. I am extremely happy about that.

PRODUCT TITLE COMPETITION

Anyway, back to the post. Whilst in transit, I started a competition to see if someone in the RPG community could come up with a product title for my Adventure, Dungeons & Danger line. I think that this is important for a number of reasons:

1. If Adventure, Dungeons & Danger ever becomes its own roleplaying game system, the term 'Adventure, Dungeons and Danger' will spearhead that as the title.

2. The product title is analogous to the likes of WORLD OF GREYHAWK, FORGOTTEN REALMS, AL-QADIM, PLANESCAPE, et.al. Meaning that I can create more product titles for different (specific and perhaps interrelated) genres. I can keep a similar 'old school' look and vary the layout and the name as popularity dictates.

So obviously this was a good time to determine and define what sort of generic setting I was going for. I have been trying hard to explain it, but I think it cannot be any more succinct as 'Swords and Sanity' a term coined upon the blog Swords against the Outer Dark. I especially like the subtitle: 'Where Sword & Sorcery gaming meets Cthulhuania and Yog-Sothothery' I shall be following this site with great interest.

The title I came up with for this generic setting was 'ELDER REALMS' and the competition was designed to see if anyone could come up with a better title. Instead of finding one, I found two close contenders: ELDRITCH DARK and DARKLING HORIZONS. Each suggestion captures what I was after and both have come from members of ENWorld.org. At this stage, I am still sticking with ELDER REALMS as the Product Title, but as I get closer to releasing Temple of the Kraken, the Product Title may change to one of those two suggestions.

So, a heartfelt thank-you and congratulations to 'KalebDaark' and Robert J Grady for their contributions: Both will receive a brand new Pathfinder GameMastery Guide in the mail very soon.

COLOR MAP?

Oh the pic? I like to listen to my fans and critics alike --and I wanted to see if I could create a color map of Rel-Draxa. Don't forget that I am learning these software packages as I go, so I have no formal training. It is work in progress and I have cropped it a little so as to not give away much from Temple of the Kraken or to stymie those who have been loyal in purchasing Rel-Draxa. This pic is just a test to see if it *could* be converted without having to start from scratch. I am moderately happy with the results I am making, so when it is complete, I shall work out a way of getting it to my loyal fans. It does represent a move away from 'old school' mapping, but I want to see where this goes. Unlike the picture, the map will be vectors, so a viewer can zoom to any magnification and not encounter pixellation. For those interested, I have been lurking over at the Cartographer's Guild and avidly reading the forums for tips and tricks. It was because of the Cartographer's Guild that I encountered the Ankeshel map from Sunken Empires. That map is everything I wanted Rel-Draxa to be. I have gotta say that is the first map that has made me *want* to become a better cartographer and artist. It is the driving force behind my buying a PDF copy of Sunken Empires and attempting a color version of my own map. I would like to acknowledge the cartographer Jonathan Roberts (Torstan of the C Guild) for his outstanding work. Astute viewers will note that I followed Jonathan's use of the golden ratio for the underwater sections. As I use a set of more simplistic lines in my maps, I will have to rely more on labels and notes in order to convey what I want.

SUNKEN EMPIRES

When I set out to buy this product, I was surprised to find that this title is popular enough to have sold completely out of the print version, although I am assured that more are on their way. PDF only until then. As a fan of all things dark and forgotten, Sunken Empires fits right in to what I want to do as a designer and a gamesmaster, in fact it has given me an idea for a sequel for Temple of the Kraken. My only disappointment is that the OGL sections seem restrictively small which seems a shame and I am unsure if I can use any of the monsters from the bestiary in any of my own products (It appears that only the Defense/Offense/Statistics/Tactics/Ecology sections of the monsters are OGL. Does that mean the monsters' names and special abilities are Product Identity? If someone from Open Design could clarify, that would be great). In terms of content, I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars but in light of accessibility for 3PP designers (and in my case, I need clarification on the monsters bit), I am taking 1/2 a star off. 4 out of 5 for me. If you are a GM thinking about expanding all those Lovecraftian bits in your Pathfinder game, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

SITE DESIGN

2010-04-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

I had a great time over Easter; we caught up with some friends, relaxed and did a few things around the place we had 'always been meaning to do.'I mucked around with a newer site design. You may view the fruits of my labor here. Tell me what you think.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

THE WORLD OF ADVENTURE, DUNGEONS & DANGER

2010-03-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Dedicated followers of this site will have noticed that I stopped detailing the iconic characters some weeks before the release of Horror at Dagger Rock. Whilst iconic characters are really little more than the pregens that are found in the backs of the modules I write, they represent the heroes of Adventure Dungeons & Danger.
Others will also tell you that I take great care in constructing intricate backgrounds for the characters that I play and to me, the Adventure, Dungeons & Danger iconic characters the same. When I write creatively, I duck dive into my subconscious and scull just below the surface. This lends itself to all sorts of wierd and wonderful names, as well as concepts that I have to then draw together into a cohesive world.
Of course, the more I write, the more I find I need to keep track of. I have scores of notes detailing names of people, places and a variety of other little tidbits I can use at some point. It is all very well and good to shoot off at the mouth and write what comes naturally, but I do not want to write myself into a corner or end up with something that ends up being discontinuous. Granted, it is just flavor text, but it is YOUR doorway into my world and my iconic characters need a real world to adventure in.

Thus, the WORLD OF LLANDOVER™ is born.

My first action was to place Rel-Draxa into the World of Llandover and I am happy with the result. In creating Rel-Draxa, I have been able to nail down several areas that had been floating around on various pieces of paper into something more: A proper world that for better or worse, is a place for my characters to to call home. Now, Rel-Draxa has become the gateway to a much larger universe.

So where to from here?
Llandover is a tool for me to use in creating Adventure, Dungeons & Danger game modules; allowing me to keep things continuous. My sandbox if you will.
In creating Adventure, Dungeons & Danger game modules, I want it easy for any GM to substitute the names and places therein to suit their own campaign needs, but as things grow, I wanted to throw this open to all of you to decide how much of Llandover you would like to see. You know I love surveys and I would like you to take part in this one. The survey closes 11:59pm 31st May 2010.

Click here to take survey

Just for fun, I have created a logo for you to peruse. Although I am no expert on these things, I would like to think that I am getting better at these designs. As always, necessity is the mother of invention and I am fortunate enough to have a valuable network of people to bounce ideas from. If people are interested in a high resolution desktop background (in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio), please let me know in the comments section below.

The logo is a trademark of Sagawork Studios and the the WORLD OF LLANDOVER is considered Product Identity of Sagawork Studios. For more information, please consult this page.

REL-DRAXA REVIEW: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS!

2010-03-31T16:46:00.001-07:00

I was very pleased to see that Rel-Draxa received 4 out of 5 stars over on Paizo's website. I have taken the criticism on board and will use that to improve future products. Rel-Draxa has also sold enough copies to warrant a cheque from Paizo, which I shall post a pic of when I receive it. I am also please that in terms of consistency, I have two of two products that have scored well.

Because I want to bring old school to new edition, I am undecided about how to implement color maps into a module. I can see how it is a must in setting products now (even the World of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms grey box had color maps) so I have tried my hand at designing a few. I believe it is time for me to plunge into Campaign Cartographer 3, but it will mean getting the capital together to buy it. Please note the changes to the paypal link. If you are feeling magnanimous, feel free to donate :)

MIGHTY REL-DRAXA!

2010-03-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Without any further ado, I present to you: Rel-Draxa!

Welcome adventurers, to mighty Rel-Draxa! Standing proudly upon the western shore, she is the most powerful city in the region and arguably the world.

For almost a thousand years, Rel-Draxa has been a beacon for those seeking to make a profit among the city's ruthless merchants and nefarious dealmakers. Trading within the walls of Rel-Draxa is not for the faint hearted, however. Only the most courageous or foolhardy will emerge from such deals unscathed.

Despite this, merchant vessels from across the world jostle for the opportunity to offload their cargo and be away with their fortunes upon the rising tide. Under the watchful eyes of the Knights-Mariner and the Freebooter Armada, sly traders hawk these wares to those that can afford them. From the shadows of the ancient ruins dotting the city, vagabonds watch nobles carouse in Rel-Draxa's many taverns. These ruins harbor their own secrets, which only the bravest would dare to discover. From her humble beginnings as a buccaneer's lair, to the uneasy rule of the new pirate queen, Rel-Draxa has opened its gates to all races and buckled the political contours of this great land.

It is said that powerful eyes now watch this dark city with envy; Rel-Draxa is indeed a fruit ripe for the picking…

Rel-Draxa is a game accessory compatible with all levels of play, containing two 11” x 17” maps of the city. Accompanying this is an 8-page gazetteer detailing Rel-Draxa's history, laws and the city's geography, making Rel-Draxa easy to place within any campaign setting.

You may purchase this game accessory in a number of ways: Either click here, click on the link on the right hand side of the page, or click on the picture in this post. I am especially proud of this little project and I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to pass on constructive criticism; or a full review. These things can only make Sagawork Studios' products even better!

YOU THOUGHT I WAS DEAD, DIDN'T YOU!?

2010-03-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been about 45 days since my last post, so I can appreciate why you would think that. For the lack of updates, I am sorry. Being one person sometimes means that you are spread very thin over a variety of publishing tasks. It has been a few months since my last update, but I can assure you all that I am hard at work.

I promised you some statistics regarding my solo adventure/gamebook idea. Here they are:

Although only nine people took part, the results speak for themselves.

SO, WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?
I spent some time over the last few months developing a rules system for a series of gamebooks. It is completed its preliminary playtests and is now going through a more stringent series of tests to see if it can be broken. So far, I am happy to say that it hasn't yet. It uses the plain ol' six-sided die to use and I am quite happy with it. The system has a name; 6AARO™. (pronounced 'six arrow') The clever among you may be able to divine how the system works. Still, this is a side project for the time being. People were also interested in solo adventures for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, but an involved system makes for an involved solo adventure. I am still playtesting various incarnations of the rules that are implemented through the text. I wanted to pass on my grattitude to those who took part in the survey and also made the effort to comment on the topic. I am putting that advice to good use.

I have also fleshed out a number of synopses for subsequent Adventure, Dungeon & Danger Game Modules, giving me a 'to do' list as long as my arm. Writing is fun, writing adventures is great! I would not trade it for the world.

TEMPLE OF THE KRAKEN UPDATE:
Temple of the Kraken is going through a rewrite, meaning that I cannot put a date on a release yet. That said, I have lifed the appendix and expanded it slightly, making it into its own module. I do not want to steal my own thunder, so I shall reserve that for a separate post, very, very soon. It is enough to say that this post comes upon the verge of a new release from Sagawork Studios. I am sure you will be happy with the result.

GHOSTS OF RPG PAST AND FUTURE

2009-12-25T01:14:00.000-08:00

My very first experience of roleplaying was Fighting Fantasy’s The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Many more gamebooks followed and when I first became aware of Dungeons & Dragons, I assumed that the modules were similarly set out. Coincidentally, my very first step into Dungeons & Dragons was a module called Thunderdelve Mountain: A solo adventure set out with multiple choices very much like a gamebook. As a way to ease myself into D&D, Thunderdelve Mountain seemed like a good choice.

Being a naïve country boy I assumed that the rules would be contained within the module, I was dismayed to find that there was no such thing. Mark James (my childhood friend who shared my passion for adventure) and I spent a week on holidays divining the rules from what tables and references we had and we extrapolated from there. Our biggest hurdle was Armor Class; to that point, we had never encountered integers within a roleplaying game, but once the to-hit tables made sense to us, it was as if a door had been opened. Another obstacle was that as country kids, we had no access to polyhedral dice, just d6’s out of myriad Snakes and Ladders, Ludo and Monopoly sets.

We had to make do with what we had: our first d20 was 4d6-4 for example (a score of 1,1,1,1 was re-rolled). I also spent many hours trying to construct a d12 dodecahedron by attempting to glue 12 balsawood pentagons together. 2d6 be damned!

Ah, such is the minutiae of necessity and I am digressing.

Soon after, I was fortunate enough to buy TSR’s Blizzard Pass and play the Maze of the Riddling Minotaur a few times. This was of course after we got the red Basic Set and the blue Expert Rules. We were armed with our own polyhedral dice and were a little more experienced then. Our joy in a more complicated ‘gamebook’ was immense. Because of our predilection of using the d6, we even experimented with Tunnels & Trolls, with varying results. I have always been enamoured with their racial multipliers; the possibilities of races were endless!

I have travelled a long way since those days, but I still remember Thunderdelve Mountain and those other modules fondly.

Of course, I have 2010 and onwards packed with many, many, many Adventure, Dungeons and Danger Modules. But I thought to ask you what you thought of gamebooks and solo adventure modules? What ones do you own? Which ones are you missing from your collections? Or do you avoid them like the plague?

I have also made a Christmas poll I would like you all to take part in. It is entitled: Solo Adventures for Pathfinder or perhaps a gamebook. and it asks two questions:

1. Would you play a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game ‘solo game module?’
2. Would you like to see a return of the gamebook?

Polling closes 23:59, 31st January 2010.

I am taking a small break over Christmas until the first week of 2010. I am back into Temple of the Kraken then and I should have a finish/release date not long after that.

Merry Christmas to everyone, everywhere!

Andrew Gale
SAGAWORK STUDIOS.

SAGAWORK STUDIOS HAS MOVED!

2009-11-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the 30th November 2009 in my part of the world. The insane engine powering this move has been switched off, returning us to a coveted state of Probability 1:1. I am tired, my muscles ache and I have a cold, but I am glad to be back in a quiet room with an inspiring view. I have a few pictures showing Sagawork Studios’ new digs . There is also a short video of the view here.

Oh, the picture? A little while ago, Valley of the Necromancer Kings was one of the winners announced in Chatty DM’s One Page Dungeon Contest. One of the prizes was a sketch provided by Avatar Art. I asked for a picture depicting Ungoth, the last Necromancer King and I wanted to share that with everyone. I also mentioned that Reign of the Necromancer Kings would be a future module. As not a lot of writing can come out of a physically intensive move, it has given me a lot of time to think about plots and concepts for the modules I have decided to do. I have had a wicked idea for RotNK; something that I am sure people will talk about for ages to come.

I am still writing and mapping Temple of the Kraken. The artwork is coming along nicely. Plans for the ‘Gothic Horror’ adventure is in the final stages and I will begin writing it as soon as Temple of the Kraken wraps.

More soon.

LOOKING AHEAD

2009-11-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

Work continues on Temple of the Kraken, an adventure that is shaping up nicely in the cartography, written and illustration department. David Fisher has mentioned that there are a few concept designs up on his Deviant Art page; so if you want a sneak peek at some concept designs, please take a look. I have a inked version of the main bad guy ,and I have to say that he/it exceeds what I envisioned for him.

The title of this post is called ‘Looking Ahead’ for a number of reasons. I mentioned a little while ago that my partner and I are moving. That occurs in three days from now. After 16 ½ years, of living in Sydney, we are finally moving to a location that is laid back, peaceful and above all, seems a lice place to live. Some people refer to such a move as a ‘Seachange’, to a certain degree, I suppose they are correct.

‘Looking Ahead’ also means looking ahead to the other modules I have in mind for Adventure Dungeons & Danger. I mentioned previously that I am narrowing down a number of plots and concepts to continue with after Temple of the Kraken. This really means divining which order I am executing these adventures –as ideally– I shall be doing them all. At last count, I have five fully fleshed ideas that draw corollaries to the classic modules printed by TSR. So without further ado, the adventure following Temple of the Kraken will be:

A GOTHIC HORROR ADVENTURE.

This adventure is set in the mountainous principality of Tranfax. There, the adventurers will discover murderous plots backed by the evil horrors that dwell within their mountain fastness. The title? I am keeping it from you ;-) I do not wish to give away the surprise just yet. Don't worry; there are unexpected surprises within that makes this adventure from being a mere Ravenloft clone!

As Temple of the Kraken draws to a conclusion, I shall divulge more about the above adventure and those that are to follow. I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed!

More soon and wish us luck for our move!

A SNEAK PEEK AT REL-DRAXA

2009-11-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

ON WRITING
After writing something, especially something big --I tend to 'shut up' for a bit and listen to what others have to say. I do this for a number of reasons:

1. I am actuallly interested in what others have to say!
2. I like to use this time to distance myself from my previous project.
3. It helps me focus on the next project

For me, it is important to be able to listen what others have to say. This can take many forms: Comments, constructive critiques, personal opinions, reviews, and suggestions to name a few. It is the constructive critiques that I cherish the most, as it helps me refine and improve my skills. For those of you out there who are interested in writing, but dread things like criticism, let me offer you some advice:

You can choose to take on board what has been said (be it good or ill) or you can choose not to.

So, this is part of my writing process; a brief hiatus where I watch and listen to what is going on.

THE ICONIC CHARACTERS
You may have noticed that I still have three Iconic Characters to finish. There is a reason for this: I have employed an artist to illustrate each of them, starting with Rongo, Joreune, Llander and Balthazeus. As we go through the design process of their ‘look’, I have come to the realisation that key aspects about them may change. Once I am happy with these, I shall post the remaining Iconic Characters for you to see.

RELCOATING
Sagawork Studios is moving! 18 November 2009 is my last day living in Sydney after sixteen and a half years. My partner and I are relocating to the far south coast of New South Wales, for her to pursue a career as a Laboratory Manager. Whilst we relocate, I will be sans internet for a little while, meaning I will just be away from my email address. I believe the hotel where we are staying has the internets, so it won’t be for too long. Sagawork Studios storefront will still be up and running, so it is business as usual.

TEMPLE OF THE KRAKEN
I currently have two artists employed working on key illustrations within Temple of the Kraken. I have seen some of the proofs and some near complete pictures, as well as the iconic characters that feature therein. I must say that I am extremely impressed with their work; it captures the look and feel that I want. Currently, I am working on the Map of Rel-Draxa. Cities can be tricky things and capturing the right feel for an overcrowded, bustling port with twisting and shadowy streets can sometimes be a hard thing to do. To do so, I am using a technique similar to the map of Port Blacksand found in Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World, by using ‘blocks’ of oddly-shaped houses close together forms the streets in between.

FUTURE RELEASES:
A number of people have asked me if I am going to follow through with a third instalment; given that WG0: Horror at Dagger Rock is a lead-in to Temple of the Kraken. I think this is because Horror at Dagger Rock ended up being as big as what it was. At this stage, Sagawork Studios’ plan is to plan a third instalment at a later stage, not necessarily being the next one. The ending of Temple of the Kraken will be enough of a conclusion to satisfy players and GMs alike. In the meantime, anybody is free to tackle a third instalment of their own devising.

So, to keep Adventure, Dungeons and Danger truly ‘stand-alone’ I have narrowed the choice down to three adventure ideas. These ideas have been tempered with the things I have learnt whilst writing Horror at Dagger Rock. I shall make an announcement with which one I am going with on Sunday, 15 November 2009; three days before we move. I can’t wait to tell you!

More soon!

Andrew

SAGAWORK STUDIOS @ PAIZO.COM

2009-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

You may now get the revised version of Horror at Dagger Rock here, or by clicking on the Horror at Dagger Rock link over by the right hand side of this site. The download is still free.

867 READS!

2009-10-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

Having come back to check Horror at Dagger Rock's audience response, I find that 867 people have taken the time to at least look over my work. That is very encouraging for me and I want to take the time to thank each and every one of you for following this!

Those that would have read it will have no doubt cringed (as I did) at some of the minor errors that plagued the released PDF. I have spent the last week correcting those mistakes; adding in minor letters, missed words, doctoring the layout and generally making sure that it is error free. Again, this has been an invaluable lesson for me in listening to constructive criticism and working effectively to release dates. I now feel very confident enough to release it on Paizo and RPGnow as a free download. Once it is up there, the scribd version will be removed.

Putting Horror at Dagger Rock to bed has allowed me to pursue Temple of the Kraken unfettered. Armed with the valuable knowledge and lessons I have gained from HaDR, I have now started work putting this adventure together. Currently, I am in discussion with two artists; Joseph Crocono and David Fisher--long time RPG players and accomplished artists-- to illustrate it and the later modules from Sagawork Studios. You may view their prior work by clicking on their names.

I am still considering which module I will follow Temple of the Kraken with. I have a few very good ideas that I wish to explore and I am eager to announce it once I decide.

More soon.

HORROR AT DAGGER ROCK!

2009-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sagawork Studios is proud to present Horror at Dagger Rock!

You may download by clicking on the link above, by clicking on the picture in this post or on link to the right of the page. Currently these links point to a temporary site, which will be taken down after it is hosted over at Paizo. I shall update the links when that happens.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
1. Read it. Tell me what you think. I am anxious to know. It helps me improve what I love doing.
2. Consider making a donation. I promised you that this was going to be a free module, but you will notice that there is not a lot of art inside (other than the maps). If you like what you see and you want to see more of it, the paypal button is just over there. In any case, Temple of the Kraken will be the first module that carries a price tag.
3. Start a new campaign using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! Print out a copy of Horror at Dagger Rock, grab a few friends and roll some dice. You will have some fun!

There are a number of other things which I need ot mention but I have done enough talking for the moment. Go grab the download!

EDIT:
The older version has been removed and the links updated to point to the Paizo website for download. Enjoy!

HORROR AT DAGGER ROCK PRESS RELEASE

2009-10-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sagawork Studios.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Adventure, Dungeons & Danger debuts with Horror at Dagger Rock!

October 12, 2009 (SYDNEY, AU) Sagawork Studios is proud to announce the release of their first Adventure, Dungeons & Danger product, WG0: Horror at Dagger Rock.

“I don’t think I could be more thrilled at seeing a positive result in this endeavor,” said the elated Andrew C. Gale, author and founder of Sagawork Studios. “Adventure, Dungeons and Danger is Sagawork Studios’ first professional product and is the culmination of nearly six months of writing, planning and testing.”

Sagawork Studios is committed to bringing ‘Old School’ style of adventures in the vein of the game modules that were released in the 1980’s. Horror at Dagger Rock was touted for a September 30, 2009 release, totalling 16 pages, but Sagawork Studios held it back two weeks and released an adventure over four times as big, rivalling a Pathfinder Adventure Path periodical. When we asked about it, Andrew C. Gale had this to say:

“Horror at Dagger Rock has been a huge learning experience for me as a writer and developer. It has allowed me to experience what is possible, what works well and what does not. Horror at Dagger Rock is certainly a unique product and one I am very proud of. Its qualities have helped me refine future releases from Sagawork Studios."

Horror at Dagger Rock will be available in PDF at 12:01am, 12 October 2009 Pacific Standard Time. This module will be followed with a sequel called Temple of the Kraken.

GOOD THINGS (DO EVENTUALLY) COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT

2009-09-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

My readers; I am terribly sorry --I am not going to make the deadline that I set. To further explain why: A job opportunity has come up for my partner in a place we'd like to call home; buy a house, get a dog, raise children, that type of thing. This is more or less a once in a lifetime offer that will pave the way for tho$$$e things. Family comes first and I am sure that you all understand that. I shall also hold off on announcing some other bits and pieces until after I am back. Regardless of what happens with the job my partner is interviewing for, it is still 'Business as Usual' at Sagawork Studios.

As a small conceit; I am going to edit the original posts that claimed Horror at Dagger Rock was going to be ready on the 30th September 2009. The updated due date is: 12th October 2009 (PST)

Oh, while I have your attention, here is an excerpt from Horror at Dagger Rock --one of the monsters you are likely to encounter:

The Forgewight CR 2

Advanced Burning Skeleton Smoke Creature

(Pathfinder Bestiary, Advanced Bestiary)

NE Medium undead (fire)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60ft, cloudsight; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 14

(+6 Dex, +4 natural)

hp 11 (1d8+3)

Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +4

DR 5/bludgeoning; immune fire, cold vulnerability, undead traits

OFFENSE

Spd 30 ft; fly 30ft (perfect), smoke travel

Melee 2 Claws +4 (1d4+4 plus 1d6 fire damage)

Special Attacks Fiery Aura, Breath Weapon

TACTICS

Before Combat: Despite not having any skill in stealth, the Forgewight will stalk through the shadows in an attempt to surprise its victims

During Combat: If it is able, it will attempt grapple an adversary. Regardless if it is successful, it then breathes its breath weapon, catching its intended victim and as many others as possible in the 20-ft cube. It is unafraid of wading into melee, concentrating on any burning targets first to bring them down quickly.

Morale: The Forgewight remains in the house until it is destroyed

STATISTICS

Str 19, Dex 22, Con -, Int -, Wis 14, Cha 16

Base Atk +0 CMB +4; CMD 20

Feats Improved Initiative

Skills None

SQ Air Mastery, Breath Weapon, Cloud Sight, Fiery Aura, Fiery Death, Smoke Travel

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Air Mastery (Ex) Any airborne creature take a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls against this creature

Breath Weapon (Su) Every 1d4 rounds, this creature can breathe a cloud of superheated smoke and cinders. This cloud fills a 20-ft cube adjacent to, or surrounding this creature. Any creature caught within the cloud must make a DC15 Reflex save or catch on fire. The cloud cools quickly but any living creature entering or within the cloud is treated as if they are dazzled as the smoke and cinders stings eyes. The supernatural smoke remains in place for 5 rounds despite prevailing winds, thereafter the cloud becomes normal smoke and disperses normally.

Cloud Sight (Ex) This creature may ignore concealment in any generated clouds, gasses, fogs or mists

Fiery Aura (Ex) Creatures adjacent to this creature takes 1d6 points of fire damage at the start of their turn. Anyone striking this creature with an unarmed strike or a natural attack takes 1d6 points of fire damage.

Fiery Death (Su) A burning skeleton explodes into a burst of flame when it is destroyed. Anyone adjacent to the skeleton when it is destroyed take 1d6 points of damage (DC14 Reflex Save for half).

Smoke Travel (Su) At will, as a move action, this creature can use dimension door (CL7th) to move from any area filled with smoke to any other smoke-filled area within range

ADVANCED BESTIARY

A number of the encounters within Horror at Dagger Rock contain templates found in the Advanced Bestiary, published by Green Ronin. The Forgewight for example, carries the Smoke Creature template found within the Advanced Bestiary (after I added the fire subtype to the Burning Skeleton, first). In designing the encounter with the Forgewight, I wanted an something that was all about the horror and the destruction it could cause, but be relatively quick to deal with (I blame Supernatural for that method of thinking). However, I was concerned about the resulting creature, namely some of the more powerful abilities given the relatively low CR. A Burning Skeleton is CR ½, the Advanced Creature template adds +1, (making it CR1) and the Smoke Creature increased it by a further +1, for a total of CR2. These fears proved valid when the creature TPKed a 2^nd level party (standing toe to toe with the Forgewight, the fighter took 1d6 points of fire damage, then another 2d6 points from the breath weapon…and then failed his Fortitude save --dropping him out of the combat straight away. The other party members could not land a decent hit on the creature given its miss chance and its high AC. In the end, the house burned down around their ears, killing the dying Fighter and a 0hp Paladin. The Bard and the Wizard fled to the Miner’s Rest, but the creature followed them with its Smoke Travel ability, as the prevailing winds blew smoke over Relford….) As such, there have been a number of abilities that I have dropped or modified in favor of game balance. However as GM feel free to add them back in if you want. You will need a copy of the Advanced Bestiary to do so.

Just so you can get the full effect of the post go an grab yourself Fontin from Jos Buivenga. The Fontin font family is free, but make sure you comply with Jos' instructions if you want to use it commercially.

HORROR AT DAGGER ROCK! 12th OCTOBER 2009!

2009-09-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

Having now reached the second week in September I feel obliged to inform you of the status of Horror at Dagger Rock.

I am pleased to announce that Horror at Dagger Rock's release date is the 12th October, 2009 (PST).

That date will also carry with it an announcement regarding future titles from Sagawork Studios.

I am *that* close, ladies and gentlemen. In playtesting and revising, a few continuity issues have cropped up that need to be eradicated. These issues have meant some areas needed to be expanded. Some of the encounters resulted in TPKs and they also need to be adjusted. I’ll tell anyone who will listen that writing an adventure carries with it a sizable amount of logistics. I have not seen anything on the developer’s preview edition of the Pathfinder Bestiary which is a little disappointing, so I have also been busy converting monsters that appear in the module.

Another thing I also said was 16 pages was to be the run length. Horror at Dagger Rock is bigger than that. At the moment, the manuscript is topping 74 pages. That is about 18-19 ‘real’ pages in Quark. At completion, I expect that Horror at Dagger Rock will exceed 24 pages in length. Not bad for a free adventure, eh?

As an aside, I have managed to get in contact with some more artists whose work will make an appearance in Temple of the Kraken and a number of upcoming modules. I will give you a little more about the both of them very soon.

So; 30th September! If you are as impatient as I am; you may get lucky.

ICONIC CHARACTER: LLANDER

2009-08-25T00:28:00.000-07:00

It was at the Marksman’s Tourney in Verda that the name Llander first came to be known. An expert targeteer, Llander excelled at the use of the longbow and crossbow. His precision and unerring accuracy garnered the notice and admiration of many tourney-goers, and it was little wonder that Llander made it to the finals.

As the field was cleared for the final bout, the crowds were alive with rumors regarding Llander’s origin. He was at once a Forest-Lord who was brought up by the Elves; a fallen Ranger Knight who had taken to robbing travelers of their wealth; a minor lord from the Brigand Kingdoms, who was looking to show off his skills in combat. They were eager to see this unknown match his skills against the defending champion; the elf-lord, Gilfane.

At last, the trumpets sounded and the two finalists came onto the field. As was the custom, Gilfane came first, fully cloaked in forest-green. Behind him came Llander, an easy smile on his face that did not reach his eyes. Upon reaching the shooting area, Gilfane doffed his cloak with a flourish and the crowd roared its approval. Tourney-aides brought the arrows the finalists would shoot with. Both Gilfane and Llander strung their bows and the last contest commenced.

The crowds fell silent, their eyes following as the first arrows arced into the air, seeking and finding the yellow each time. It seemed that both these archers were as skilled as the other. Arrow matched arrow, shot matched shot. The crowd was breathless, gasping instead of cheering as the contest wore on into the late afternoon.

Fate struck when Gilfane landed a shot in the red, a hair’s breadth from the yellow. Silent now, the crowd waited for Llander to make the winning shot. Llander smiled and drew his own bow, sighting the distant target.

Llander’s bowstring snapped.

Such an occurrence in Verda is an ominous omen and considered bad luck. The crowd groaned as Llander’s arrow dropped to the ground. Llander dropped his bow-hand, closed his eyes and cursed. It looked as if the contest was over, marred by an anticlimactic finish.

‘Here’

The crowd’s roar swamped the field. Llander opened his eyes.

Gilfane had his hand outstretched; in his palm laid a coiled bowstring. Llander smiled darkly, graciously accepting the gift. Swiftly restringing his bow, Llander waited until the tourney judge called for silence. As the crowd’s cheers died away, Llander pulled a fresh arrow from his quiver and notched it. Drawing back; he sighted the target and pulled. Llander breathed out, releasing the shaft between breaths. The arrow shot towards the target, striking cleanly. The aides ran over to the target to sight the shot.

'Blue!' An aide called. The crowd roars began anew.

'Gilfane remains champion!' The judged called, failing to be heard over the crowd.

Gilfane made his way to the winner’s podium. There, he was presented with the champion’s laurel, a purse of one-hundred platinum coins and the tourney’s silver arrow.

‘It should have been mine.’ Llander whispered under his breath as he made his way though the pressing crowds.

A caravan to Venacia was leaving the settlement that evening. Llander signed on as a guard. As they were preparing to leave, the fat merchant who employed him was overly excited to learn that Gilfane would also be accompanying their caravan.
“Two Forest Lords to protect us! We are blessed with such good fortune!” The Merchant exclaimed.

To this, Llander said nothing.

The days passed swiftly. Gilfane came to Llander one night as the young man sat alone at his own fire, some distance from the main campsite.

'I am sorry that you lost the tourney.' Gilfane said.

Llander shrugged. “It could have been a number of things; the string perhaps little damp; a stray zephyr, an impatient release.”

Glad that Llander had accepted his defeat, Gilfane smiled. 'You are quite a marksman, have you considered joining Verda’s Ranger-Knights?'

Llander shrugged again. 'Perhaps, but I plan to be here next year, to win the Tourney and the silver arrow. It should have been mine.'

Gilfane sighed. 'I wish you well then, I will be unfortunately, not competing; I am returning to Celdaone across the sea.'

Llander said nothing after that, returning his attention to the fire. Gilfane bid Llander goodnight and returned to the main camp.

* * * * * * * * * *

On the next night, they came from the mists: A pack of wolves that moved with human precision and strategy; led by a beast that walked like a man. They stormed silently into the campsite, ravaging flesh with their powerful jaws. The alarm was raised almost too late, but Gilfane and Llander came up quickly; their arrows finding their mark with deadly effect.

But still they came on.

Llander cursed and shot into a run across the camp. Gilfane was cornered against a tree. The werewolf leader stalked slowly towards the elf, flexing its claws and spittle dripped from its maw. Gilfane reached behind him, to pull forth the silver arrow that he had won at the tourney; the only defense he had against lycanthropes.

It was not there.

Gilfane had little time to consider if he had already shot it by accident. The wolf launched itself at Gilfane, tearing out the Elf’s throat.

Hey!’

The werewolf turned, snarling. Llander stood with his bow up and the string taut. A shaft from his bow flashed across the clearing, lancing into the werewolf’s eye. With an unearthly howl, the werewolf clawed at its face, dislodging the shaft that had become embedded in its eye socket. It turned and loped off through the trees. With their leader gone, the other wolves fled also, their tails between their legs.

'Are they gone?' The fat merchant poked his head out form underneath the wagon.

'Yes.” Llander said, not looking up.

‘Will they come back?’ The merchant asked, his voice quavering when he saw the corpses littering the clearing.

'Perhaps, but not tonight.' Llander said softly.

Llander crouched by the corpse of the elf-lord. He unhooked the belt pouch containing the tourney winnings and retrieved the gore-covered silver arrow he had stolen from Gilfane’s quiver the night before.

'I told you it should have been mine.' Llander whispered to the corpse.

NOTES:

When writing the above text, I pictured Llander as Neutral Evil. This style of character may not be to everyone’s tastes; it is however presented in a fashion that is palatable to most age groups and playing styles, and is certainly useful for a player to build upon should he or she want a story arc that sees Llander ultimately redeemed. Players uncomfortable with the concept of playing an evil character are free to have any good or neutral-based alignment they choose, but it does prohibit Llander from the Assassin prestige class (mentioned below).

His birth and background prior to the tourney have been deliberately left open for a prospective player to fill in his or her own story. Since the tourney, Llander has worked as a mercenary and a bounty hunter for a number of employers. Prior to his arrival in Rel-Draxa, he spent some time infiltrating a group of brigands. He betrayed them all to the Ranger Knights of Verda, leading them into an ambush and walked away with the reward. He is not above resorting to trickery and deceit to get what he wants.

Despite his nefarious activities, Llander has within him the stirrings of a hero; he, sometimes lays awake at night, considering what would have happened had he not stolen the silver arrow. (This is presented to give players an option to redeem Llander before play: Perhaps Gilfane’s death galvanized Llander into doing only good from there on, thus causing Llander to change his alignment to Chaotic Good, or similar.)

Llander’s background gives him a lot of opportunities to become multiclassed: Rogue stands out as the most desired option, augmenting Llander’s Ranger abilities. Assassin and Duelist prestige classes also represent viable classes for Llander to consider, depending on playing style and alignment choices. The duelist class is more suited to a melee style. Assassin can augment either a ranged or melee style of character.

OPTIONAL:
It is possible for Llander to be a Half-Elf instead of a human. If Llander takes Sorcerer (or another arcane spell-using class, such as bard or the Red Mantis Assassin prestige class from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting), it gives Llander access to the Arcane Archer prestige class.

HORROR AT DAGGER ROCK!

2009-08-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I have kept you waiting long enough.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a cover preview for Horror at Dagger Rock; the first and FREE Adventure, Dungeons and Danger module coming soon from Sagawork Studios. For the purposes of the image accompanying this post: Some artwork by Paul Slinger.

The back cover reads:
At the edge of the Daggerstone Hills is Dagger Rock; a pinnacle of granite that thrusts more than one thousand feet into sky. At its base sits Relford; one of the oldest and most popular mining settlements in the region. Since a recent earthquake, Relford has been dying; the mines have closed and the mighty Rel River has all but dried up. People keep their doors locked and are wary of strangers. Terrified locals flee their homes, abandoning their meagre livelihood with no explanation. Others have simply disappeared… It is said that between the dark and dead trees of the hills, inhuman tribes lurk, preying on the unwary. Who knows what horrors have crawled from out the shadow of Dagger Rock? An adventure designed for 4-6 characters of levels1-2.

Release date?
I am working on the final maps and am in the final rewrite. I’m hoping for within the first two weeks of September 2009, but this may be dependant on Paizo’s release of the Pathfinder Bestiary to RPG publishers. If I can get this to you before the end of August, I will be extremely pleased. It has been a difficult yet rewarding experience writing this. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the end product.

So what happened to Dagon’s Bell?
Dagon’s Bell does not have enough of the cover artwork completed to support the adventure. I had to make a decision a number of weeks ago to sideline the project and start another adventure. Once the artwork has been completed to satisfaction, Sagawork Studios will revisit Dagon’s Bell as a full adventure in its own right. As the replacement adventure for Dagon’s Bell, Horror at Dagger Rock contains has a little tie-in to Temple of the Kraken as promised.

Llander and the other Iconic Characters are coming! I promise!

This post contains Product Identity and may not be reproduced without permission from Sagawork Studios. Please see Sagawork Studios’ Product Identity link for more information.

PATHFINDER ROLEPLAYING GAME!

2009-08-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

I got mine! Have you got yours?

Only a quick post today. An update on the Free Adventure will follow soon.

ICONIC CHARACTER: JOREUNE

2009-08-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

In the evenings Joréune’s mother would tell her how she used to sing for Llaw, the Ranger Prince of Verda. His highness would send her gifts and treasures, just to gain a private audience with her. But –she says– these were happier times.

Now, she sings to the common folk; a sideshow attraction at Koblin’s Bizarre Bazaar. But this is not a fate that she has endured having fallen on hard times. Instead, this is a guise that enables her to evade the forces that would see her destruction. For she is the last living descendant of the ruling line of fallen Que’eltalos: The ancestral home of the aquatic elves.

She thought that she was safe in the lush forest-cities of Verda, but even there the Cult of Dagon struck. Poor Prince Llaw died defending her against the tentacle horrors of the demon lord. Aquanara discovered that she was pregnant with Llaw’s child some weeks after fleeing Verda. A chance meeting with the entrepreneurial and greedy dwarf Koch Koblin; owner of the Bizarre Bazaar changed her life forever. The clean-shaven dwarf transformed her into ‘Aquanara the Fish Queen’ and now, Aquanara prefers the simple life of travel, singing to the crowds as a sideshow freak; a water siren with the voice of an angel.

Her child was born without incident, a beautiful half-elf girl child whom she named Joréune, which means ‘Joy of the Sea’ in her ancestral tongue. As she grew to womanhood, Aquanara has told Joréune little of Que’eltalos; its fall and the fell machinations of Dagon.

It was during the carnival’s visit to Rel-Draxa, a young Joréune stole away from her duties, having heard of the city's Great Museum. At the Temple of Mannanu, the museum held some of the finest artifacts in the world; the flaming blade of the dread Kingslayer, the mummified hand and crystal eye a nameless wizard-king and the Pipe organ of Hevaard; the greatest bard to have ever lived.

But all of these things paled in the sight of the ancient armor and trident of Iydaan; the paladin king of Que’eltalos, recovered from a ruin somewhere along the volcanic coast of Tctchulka. For hours, Joréune stared at the intricate, swirling motifs that laced across the breastplate and marveled at the twisting narwhal ivory that made the tines of his trident. Never before had she seen something more complete and beautiful; as if it called to her.

Joréune returned to the carnival a changed woman. That night, after her mother’s last performance, Joréune told Aquanara of her intention to stay in Rel-Draxa. Long hours into the night, the two argued, but Joréune was resolute. In that moment, Aquanara realized that this decision this was for the best; her line could not run forever. Joréune would stand against Dagon’s evil. Aquanara talked long into the night about her father and what little she knew of Que’eltalos and the Cult of Dagon. When dawn broke, Joréune bade her mother and the carnival farewell, arriving at the Temple of Mannanu just as the sun cleared the eastern city wall.

Joréune hopes she has what it takes to become Paladin of Mannanu and has thrown herself into her studies and the ancient lore of her forebears.

NOTES:

As a half elf, I wanted something a little different to make this paladin stand out. Being an aquatic half-elf is purely cosmetic: In game terms, it gives the Gamesmaster the option to give Joréune the Aquatic subtype if he or she wanted to play an undersea campaign. Otherwise, Joréune is a half-elf as appears in the Pathfinder Role Playing Game.

Like the monk, paladins appear to be no longer restricted in their multiclassing, provided they adhere to their restrictions of their parent class. As with a number of classes prior, I see Joréune advancing solely as a Paladin because it represents her firm conviction and devotion to her faith.

Should a player wish to multiclass, Cleric stands as the frontrunner class to Joréune to take. There are quite a few domains which would appeal to this type of character. Given Aquanara’s singing ability, I would also recommend Bard as a second option, giving Joréune a siren-like quality which augments her considerable talents as a Paladin.

Fighter, Monk and Ranger also represent secondary options, however I feel they do not truly represent Joréune’s character. Similarly, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Rogue, Sorcerer and Wizard are not recommended (However, a Sorcerer with a Water Elemental bloodline may be permissible).

WORKING ON THE FREE ADVENTURE

2009-07-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

Checking the site meter, I see that we are nearing 1000 page views! It goes without saying that I appreciate the support that everyones gives. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is out in a fortnight's time and I am hoping to have something ready for you, on or close to that release date. As much as I would like to make a promise to you that I will have the free adventure ready by August 13th, please temper that with the fact that I am looking for full-time work whilst doing this. There are sometimes not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to! I was also disappointed to hear that the Pathfinder Bestiary has been delayed some months, so I will have to face the very real possibility that the monster encounters therein will be as per the System Reference Document.

Speaking of the free adventure; it is coming along nicely; along with the other tasks that come from RPG Publishing. It is a lot of hard work, but work that I am enjoying. I mentioned a little while ago that the module was to be called Dagon's Bell. As writers tend to be a fickle lot (and I want to keep plot devices secret from players), the name has been changed. I shall release the final cover with the new title in a few days. I am quite pleased as this satisfies my inner 14 year old.
The picture you see here is a map that I am working on. The concept is supposed to be similar to the map booklet from this erudite tome. This map (and images of it) is Product Identity of Sagawork Studios.

As always, comments are welcome.

By the way, Joreune is coming soon!

ICONIC CHARACTER: KIAWATHA

2009-07-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Of late, the arenas in Port Brice have seen capacity crowds. Shardek the flesh merchant had even noticed that Lord Cazuur's cronies lingering in the crowd, eager to catch a glimpse the tall savage in action.

Shardek could not believe his luck when Vaskuul came to him with the savage. He called himself Kiawatha; the Bear Warrior. He fought with his fists and with the totem-staff he carried. He was what? Six? No: Six and a half feet tall and well muscled; his skin browned by the sun. He spoke very little; all he sought was to fight.

The first night, he dislocated the Orc gladiator’s jaw, driving the mandible up into the poor creature’s brain. On the second night, he pummeled the ogre into unconsciousness.

Tonight, he faced the Minotaur from Attalica.

In two nights, this savage had earned enough money to buy his freedom if he was a slave; not that Shardek would let him go if Kiawatha were. Shardek closed the door to his office at the back of the tavern, mufffling out the baying chants of the spectators. He rubbed his temples thinking of a way to keep Kiawatha under his control. Women? Narcotics? The savages from the plains were known to prize both highly. If he were to…

The door to his little office crashed open; the savage loomed in the door frame, his fists clenched. Shardek inhaled sharply, blinking rapidly when he saw Vaskuul laying sprawled on the tavern floor, his bloody, broken nose pushed into his brain.

‘It ends tonight, Shardek-Merchant-of-Flesh.’

Kiawatha took a step into the small office. Shardek scabbled at his desk, searching for the key to the drawer and the dagger inside. As Shardek fumbled with the key to the lock Kiawatha lanced the blade of his hand into Shardek’s sternum, making the fat merchant wheeze terribly, his face turning crimson as he gasped for air.

‘We looked on as man savages the world with his manifest destiny, but when carrion-eaters such as you steal away the freedom of others…’

‘W-Wait! I don’t understan-’

Using the Bear’s Roar to fill his lungs, Kiawatha focused, snapping the flesh merchant’s neck with a powerful right cross. Spilling him from the chair, Kaiwatha sat down and leafed through the various reams of notes and ledgers. As the last Bear Warrior and son of the tribe, he would discover the fate of his blood brothers and sisters.

NOTES:
I wrote this one a little differently to the others because I wanted a new perspective to the character’s background. More importantly, I wanted to avoid the ascetic/martial arts style of monk. Astute readers will notice that I have replaced MacRoth with Kiawatha. When writing both, the visualizations I had of Kiawatha were much more vivid and workable as the character I wanted as an iconic. This also applies to the spiritualistic religion Kiawatha and his tribe believes in. Centering it on a bear-spirit gave me the character I wanted.

In roleplaying terms, Kiawatha is a Human Monk, similar to Rongo’s Half Orc Bard. His totem-staff may be a normal quarterstaff, or it may be an oversized quarterstaff if a player prefers to deal some extra damage at lower levels. Because of his background, Kiawatha has a number of options concerning his class. I see Kiawatha advancing his Monk abilities first and foremost (I see Kiawatha becoming an Avatar of the Bear Spirit at 20th level).

Before I go into multiclassing, I have read the Pathfinder Beta rules through a number of times, comparing it with the D&D 3.5E Player's Handbook: It seems that Monk or Paladin may multiclass freely, provided they do not break their alignment restrictions (If I am wrong, I would like for someone to point that out to me).

So, that said: If treated with the same care as Rongo, Bard could round out Kiawatha with some excellent skills and abilities. Fighter would also allow Kiawatha to hone his fighting skills more. (Barbarian is also an option in this regard, but would only be an option if Kiawatha changed to a non-lawful alignment.) Ranger and Druid seem to work very well as suitable class selections, especially if Kiawatha takes a bear animal companion. I am less favorable to Rogue, Paladin , Wizard and Cleric classes for Kiawatha, simply because I do not believe that they fit the ‘feel’ of what Kiawatha is about. Lastly, I would tentatively recommend Sorcerer with the Elemental Bloodline if a player wanted a shamanistic style of warrior.

SURVEY RESULTS! THE FANS HAVE SPOKEN!

2009-07-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

Click on the picture for a bigger representation of the vote breakdown: It appears that a number of people are fans of Labyrinth Lord!

I also wanted to apologise to the Labyrinth Lord fans for not including it on the main list (and thus having to select 'Other' to get their vote counted). This also goes for fans of Hackmaster and vanilla Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fans as well; I should have put them all on the list. Sorry.

In any case, this survey is good feedback for Sagawork Studios. Thanks again to all who took part.

HAPPENINGS

2009-07-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

I have been away for a few days, taking a holiday with my partner. I have an amount of news for you:

Survey Results
Iconic Character: Kiawatha
Free Adventure progress

..among other things.

Whilst I was away, I came across a gaming store that sold second hand D&D stuff. They had quite an extensive library of old Dungeon Magazines but most importantly, I picked up seven old school modules they had hidden away. I would have picked up more, but my budget would not allow it (for now). Once payday arrives, I shall ring them up and have the remainder sent to me.

I walked away with:

and my favorite so far:

WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure

I have linked to the appropriate edition on The Acaeum; the Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium. As a point of interest; S2 and S4 completes my 'Special' series collection. I am going to run a few very soon.

ICONIC CHARACTER: KITUNAI

2009-07-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Since the untimely death of the last emperor, the gates to the city of Nagai, capital of Ojin have been closed. It is said that the Immortals themselves have come to watch over Ojin and her people until a new ruler be found.

And rightly so, the elderly folk say. When the Immortals came, they crushed the bandit kings and demonic werebeasts that once terrorized the lands. With their wisdom, the Immortals blessed the common folk with new ways to farm and to improve efficiency. The Immortals gave authority to the Shogun, for him and his descendants to rule Ojin until such time a successor be found. Yes, since the Immortals came, life has been good for the people of Feudal Ojin

Kitunai, a young samurai believed in the traditions instilled by the immortals. Their divine wisdom has shown how the people of Ojin can rise as a nation and be masters of their own fate.

As a child, he was often punished by his father for sneaking out and playing with the children of the common folk. Still, it did not stop him forming a secret friendship with Akemi, the daughter of a fisherman. Kitunai taught Akemi to read and write and in return Akemi would teach Kitunai how to catch and prepare fish.

Kitunai had barely reached adulthood when his family was called to move to an outlying province in order to quell an insurgent uprising. The insurgents railed against the Immortals, believing them to be demons that preyed upon the weak. Sorrowful at the thought of leaving his friend behind, Kitunai stole a jade comb from his mother’s possessions, giving it to Akemi as a keepsake. Akemi, although sad was grateful for the gift.

The insurgent uprising was bigger than expected. An ambush claimed the life of Kitunai’s father. Now the head of the family, Kitunai executed the orders of the Shogun faithfully and led a decisive victory against those who sought to challenge divine mandate of the immortals. For his successes, Kitunai was given lands and an introduction to court.

Seeking to employ Akemi, Kituani traveled back to his childhood home, only to find that that Akemi had left, she had been chosen, along with a number of other people to attend the Immortals as their next generation of servants. An honor such as this was too great to decline; it was known that the servants of the immortals lived like kings and queens themselves. Despite his sadness, Kitunai was happy for Akemi.

Months turned into years and Kitunai was kept busy defending the outlying provinces from insurgents. It was during one of these forays into insurgent territory Kituani was investigating the whereabouts of a number of missing people. His search led him to a fog enshrouded moor where an old monastery’s graveyard sat. There, he discovered a deathless horror perched upon a mound of corpses; its lank hair wiry and matted, its claws filthy and long. Snarling, it leapt at Kitunai who swayed to the side. Kitunai spun, slicing his sword blade in a murderous arc and decapitated the foul creature.

It was then that Kitunai saw the jade comb. The creature was Akemi.

That night, the shade of Akemi came to him, her wailing and keening made sleep impossible. This went on for weeks, sapping Kitunai's strength and resolve. Finally, Kitunai lay near to death from exhaustion. Akumi appeared to him then as she had been in life.

‘Take my hand.’

Together, they soared as spirits across the afternoon sky, the lands of Ojin rolling below them. Flying lower, they came to Nagai. Under the blood light of a setting sun, Kitunai and Akemi watched as a procession of people make their way to the closed doors of the capital.

‘More supplicants for the Immortals, such as I was.’ Akemi said.

Flying over the walls, Kitunai and Akemi soared across lifeless, empty streets. They finally came at last to the imperial palace, where the immortals resided.

‘There.’

At once, Kitunai and Akemi were inside, within the shadowy halls, creatures stirred, seeking the sunset. As the last rays of light faded from the sky, a shriek echoed from within the darkness. It was followed by another, then another. The flapping of leathery wings filled Kitunai’s ears as his vision went black.

As he lay in absolute darkness, he was soothed by Akemi’s voice:

‘These creatures drink the blood of Ojin. They have come from the deserts, seeking to rebuild their deathless empire. Ojin has suffered enough, Kitunai. Free Ojin as you freed me.’

Kitunai woke just as the sun was hitting the eastern skies. As day broke, he calmly walked into the insurgent’s camp and offered them his sword. There, Kitunai learnt the secret histories of the Immortals; how they fled the deserts of Khemra and traveled east, coming at last to a war-weary Ojin. They spread the curse of unlife and began anew their empire of gods. They call themselves the Lords of Sighing Sorrow: The Shogun rules Ojin in their name, having promised him the secrets of immortality.

The Shogun has learnt of Kitunai’s betrayal and he will stop at nothing to silence him. Knowing that the insurgents stand the best chance of surviving if he was not there, Kitunai has sacrificed his honor and left for the west. There, seeks a death goddess who sleeps beneath the sands if a desert kingdom. He will seek her wisdom to combat this menace.

NOTES:
Kitunai is a male human fighter. What gives him depth is his background. In keeping with the cult status is so predominant in the media, Ojin parallels mid to late 17th Century Japan and as such, Kitunai is an expert swordmaster. Kitunai is also proficient with the use of horse and bow in keeping with the traditional precepts of bushido.

Given his background, Kitunai has a number of options open to him for multiclassing. Aside from this for a second, I can see Kitunai leveling solely as a fighter. In any case, it would be possible to multiclass into Monk or Paladin if a player wanted a more spiritualistic definition to his character. Each class would be suitable to a campaign that involved undead (I cringe a little bit at suggesting Paladin because there seems to be a lot of misconceptions that samurai=Paladin. I can assure you; that is not the case). It would also be somewhat feasible for Kitunai to take Cleric, making him a sort of spirit-warrior. Kitunai is ronin in the eyes of the Shogun. Players that want to play Kitunai as a truer ronin who has completely lost his way may wish to take levels of Rogue, Ranger or even Barbarian.

I would have dearly loved to recommend the Duelist Prestige class; to me it draws some parallels with being a true swordmaster, but some of its better abilities only work with light or one-handed piercing weapons (Precise Strike, Parry, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Crippling Critical). An easy way around it would be to have a generous GM rule that using a katana in such a way makes it classed as a one handed, piercing weapon (giving it 1d6 damage). I am surprised; there does not seem to be a lot of prestige classes that an ordinary fighter can comfortably slot into: Every prestige class needs a fighter to multiclass into something else first, or having to adjust a playing style to suit.

PRODUCT IDENTITY AND OGL LICENSE

2009-07-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

PRODUCT IDENTITY
The following items are hereby considered Product Identity in accordance with section 1(e) of the Open Gaming License version 1.0: "Dread Knight", "Titan Fantasy" "Starfinder" "Starfarer Space Opera Roleplay" "Starfarer Campaign Codex" any and all trademarks and registered trademarks, identifying marks and trade dress; all proper nouns (artifacts, characters, deities, places, etc), dialogue, plot, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and cartography. No portion of this Product Identity may be reproduced in any form without written permisison from Sagawork Studios. Find out more about the Open Game License at Wizards of the Coast.

OPEN GAMING CONTENT
With the exception of material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics and the value or results of derived formula are considered open gaming content.

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License. 4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
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7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
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14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.

15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC. Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary Preview Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC. Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
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Advanced Bestiary Copyright 2004 Green Ronin Publishing LLC; Author Matthew Sernett
Horror at Dagger Rock Copyright 2009, Sagawork Studios; Author Andrew C Gale

ADVENTURE, & DUNGEONS DANGER SURVEY

2009-07-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

I have created a little survey I would like people to take part in. It is quite anonymous and allows the selection of multiple responses, or even to add your own.

You very well know I am interested in Old School; I am keen to know what sort of Old School you are interested in seeing from me. (The voting closes 23:45PM Sunday 19th July 2009 my time; that is AEST.

What can it hurt? Take a vote!

REIGN OF THE NECROMANCER KINGS!

2009-07-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

After finshing the artwork post late last night, I did my usual rounds of the internet prior to bedtime. I was genuinely surprised to discover that I managed to win the 'Best Old School Dungeon' category of ChattyDM's One Page Dungeon Contest.

I could not be happier with this result. For easier perusal of the one page dungeon entry, you may view it here, or click the picture above. It also means that Ungoth will make an appearance in his own Adventure, Dungeons & Danger module, Reign of the Necromancer Kings. I am also seriously considering adopting Ungoth as the charismatic 'faceman' for Sagawork Studios: Who better than a thousand-year-old Necromancer King who seeks to claim the world as his own?

ARTWORK

2009-07-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few closeups of Rongo and Joréune as they appear on vellum, being part of the front cover illustration for Dagon's Bell. Although not pictured, Llander and Balthazeus will acccompany Rongo and Joréune as the four pregen characters. That means the breakdown is Paladin, Bard, Ranger and Wizard. As the Adventure, Dungeons & Danger series progresses, other iconic characters will feature as the pregen characters.

Enjoy.

ICONIC CHARACTER: CORWIN

2009-07-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

For the poor, living in the largest and richest city in the world is a very hard thing to do.

He never knew who his father was, but his mother was a prostitute whose looks and demeanor once commanded the highest prices, allowing her to work richer areas of Rel-Draxa as a courtesan. Corwin was privately tutored and introduced to finer society with the money his mother had earned. However, the black lung returned and transformed his mother into a haggard, coughing scarecrow. It was then that Corwin noticed that her mother’s friends seldom called and soon after, they had to leave the villa he had always called home. Corwin sat with his mother on the streets, in the shadow of the tradeway gate for three long nights before he was pulled away from her cold, lifeless hands. Corwin was six years-old then.

For a time, he was given shelter at the temple of Mannanu. His days were filled by working on farms in the outlying hinterlands performing backbreaking labor. There, Corwin found his affinity with nature. Caught conversing with a wolf, Corwin was whipped for heresy. Not wishing to nurture a fledgling pagan, the Mannanu clergy ousted him on his twelfth birthday. Soon after, he left the city proper and began work as a laborer at the very villa he and his mother lived in, only now it belonged to a fat merchant, his wife and their spoilt children.

At night, Corwin would sit upon the bluffs, watching as the moon broke through the clouds, bathing the surf below in its ghostly luminescence. The surf crashing against the shore spoke to him in ways that no one else could. Corwin, for the first time felt at peace with the world since the death of his mother.

But it was on one of those nights seven years later, he spied men transporting cages from an anchored merchantman to a destination on the far side of the bluff. Intrigued by these large cages, Corwin followed them at a distance, finally reaching a cave set into the lee of the cliffs. Inside, the cave were all manner of caged beasts; bears from Thorfane, colorful birds from Tchtchulka, wolves and lions from Attalica and all manner of reptiles from southern Zulmec and the deserts of Khemra. They were smugglers who had captured these animals as curios for rich merchants, playthings for their children or in some cases, main events in the illegal beast-pits down in the Rel-Draxan docklands. Corwin nearly fell over in surprise when he also spied the fat merchant whom he had worked for paying the smugglers.

Enraged beyond belief, Corwin did the only thing he could do; keeping to the shadows, he stole in and released the animals. As if feeling Corwin’s rage at their own plight, the larger, more ferocious animals rose up as one, savaging the smugglers and the fat merchant beyond recognition. Not sated, Corwin marched to the villa, where the Merchant’s wife and children slept. He set the villa alight, voicing a primal scream as the villa burned. Woken by his frightful noise, the dead merchant's wife and her children fled the villa into the night. Corwin, a black shadow covered in soot, stood there until the villa was naught but ash. In the grey, predawn light, Corwin stood amongst the smoldering ruins of the villa, appalled at the rage that had taken him so completely. He had to get away, he had to…

A snapping twig brought Corwin out of his reverie; crouching in the underbrush, a pair of yellow eyes watched him intently. Looking closer, Corwin saw it was one of the reptiles he had freed; a blackscale velociraptor from Zulmec, if he remembered his studies correctly. It sniffed the air a few times, and then uttered a series of croaking barks before advancing into the wan light, moving to stand beside Corwin. A sense of completeness took Corwin then, despite giving into the pent up rage inside him, Corwin knew that he had helped restore the balance. Since that night, Corwin and his raptor, Ebonfang patrol the coast looking for more animal smugglers. On occasion, Corwin has been known to sneak into Rel-Draxa to free animals from the beast-pits, much to the chagrin of the people that run them.

NOTES:
Again, here is another character that is a simple human Druid. By having Corwin grow up close to a city and then spending the remainder of his formative years in the city itself allows me to show a young man trying to find his way in the world and then having destiny pushed upon him in a great rush. The flavor text assumes that Corwin's choice of Nature Bond (Ex) is the 'animal companion' option, but is left open enough to allow a player to instead select adddional Cleric domain as part of Corwin's spell selections, especially the 'Animal' domain if he wishes to forgo Ebonfang (or a similar pet) until 4th Level. Given Corwin's hit-and-run tactics with smugglers and beast-pit operators, it is certainly possible for Corwin to multiclass into Ranger for a more 'wilderness style' of avenger, or Rogue if the players desires a druid that relies more on stealth and subterfuge, especially in an urban environment. I have also left it open for a player to comfortably choose an alignment by trying to cover the gamut of 'Neutrality' within the flavor text. Personally, I do not see Corwin as Neutral Evil, despite him setting the villa alight. Whilst in itself a dangerous and potentially evil act, he gave the merchant's wife and the children ample warning with his primal scream.

NEXT WEEK: Kitunai, Warmaster of Ojin!

ICONIC CHARACTER: MERCIA

2009-06-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

Death is a cycle; we live, we die and are born anew. Throughout the world, each civilisation, race or society has its own myths and legends that hearken back to this core belief about life and death.

In the desert wastes, the Necromancer Kings held sway for almost two-thousand years. Theirs was an empire that sought to cheat this cycle of life and death by mastering its arcana. For the Necromancer Kings, theirs was a belief that all things are eternal. True life was a privilege that was then followed by ascension to immortality. Important too are the unworthy; often ‘reborn’ into an deathless existence to serve as slaves for all time. By removing their kingdom from the cycle of life and death, the Necromancer Kings and their subjects became an empire of gods.

The atrocities of the Necromancer Kings reached into the far corners of the world and soon enough, many nations stood against their dread power. Brought low from within, the Necromancer Kings fell to the deathly magic that they had mastered.

Instrumental to their defeat was Nyx, a girl who sacrificed her soul to free a nation of slaves and granted eternal rest for countless others. But with her victory came the ultimate price: For having tapped into the dark energies that fuelled the Necromancer Kings’ empire she became destined to guard the gateway between life and death. In time, a religion devoted to this tenet blossomed from her sacrifice; a church that has grown strong in the centuries that followed. Nyx sleeps eternally in her tomb city; a ruinous ziggurat on the outskirts of New Tyrsis. Her priests study the art of necromancy to better combat the evils remaining from the Necromancer Kings' rule.

Mercia is one such priestess, having come to the tomb city of Nyx in her childhood. Mercia has devoted her life to the death goddess after watching her family perish during the blood-plagues and then rise again as soulless thralls. Having recently taken her final vows in the shadows of Nyx’s tomb, Merica now wears the death wrappings of a Myrmidon and wears a death’s head painted onto her face. Mercia seeks to explore the balance between life and death by mastering the sacred arcana once abused by the Necromancer Kings.

NOTES:
Readers will see that this background is somewhat different to the others I have written: Merica is in simple terms, a female human cleric. What makes her stand apart is the belief she has pledged her life to. For me, few things are better than a god of death and a priest who dresses as a mummy with a belief that she is one of the chosen who must master the arts of necromancy to guard against evil.

In gaming terms, this type of background leaves Mercia open to all types of character advancement. Whilst Merica could continue as a Cleric, it is eminently possible for her to become a Paladin of the death goddess. A Sorcerer with an ‘Undead’ bloodline also holds a lot of viability, given that the bloodline powers mirror Nyx’s first sacrifice. Despite the atrocities of the Necromancer Kings, Wizard (Necromancer) is also another option, representing a field of study that is to be mastered in order to combat the horrid legacies of that fell empire. Lastly, the Mystic Theurge prestige class represents the upper echelons of the Death-Goddess’s faith and would be suitable to Mercia if she branched into using arcane magic as a lot of Clerics of Nyx do.

NEXT WEEK: The first native of mighty Rel-Draxa; Corwin the Druid!

DAGON'S BELL: COVER CONCEPT SKETCH

2009-06-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Dagon's Bell, as you may or may not be aware, is the first Adventure, Dungeons & Danger module to be made available from Sagawork Studios. It may be played as an introduction to a campaign, on its own right or as a prelude to Temple fo the Kraken. I am still writing and playesting at the moment, so I shall not give you any flavor test as of yet. That said, I can offer you this; the concept sketch for the front cover. It features the noble Rongo and the brave Joreune; both heroes are facing off against the minions of Dagon's Bell.

Astute readers of the archives will also notice I have included a more detailed concept sketch of Rongo with his flavor text. You may visit Rongo at your leisure. As the module count grows, I shall be able to add one sketch for each Iconic Character.

Enjoy.

ARTISTRY

2009-06-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

I am going to get into trouble for this.

This, dear readers is Gretchen Keelty. I took the photo last night. (I am sorry, Gretchen; I kept the picture.)

I put her picture here because I want you to put a face to the name. Gretchen is a mutual friend of my partner Penny and I. An avid artist in many mediums, Gretchen has capped off her knowledge with a number of degrees. Penny suggested I ask Gretchen if she would be willing to illustrate Adventure Dungeons & Danger and –true to her adventurous nature– Gretchen agreed.

Working against her is the fact that Gretchen has had very little exposure to any Roleplaying Games at all, let alone what I wanted her to draw. Over the past few weeks, I have been –shall we say– instructing Gretchen on the finer points of fantasy artistry. It started with dinner at our place and has ballooned into regular visits in order to capture what I want.

But it isn’t always about what I want. Granted, I have a view on how I’d like things be portrayed. My catchcry has always been ‘Old School’, with the addendum of synonymity with the Pathfinder Role-playing Game. In my eagerness though, I may be sometimes overbearing; but this is born purely out of a desire to protect. Not wanting to be a nightmare for Gretchen and Penny, I have learned to Let Go; this is a world that Gretchen needs to explore on her own, but secure in the safe knowledge that friends are nearby. Happily, I am ready to come to her aid when she needs it. Already she has a small cult following as a fantasy Artist. By happenstance, she told a number of her friends what she was paining Orcs and Paladins. To her surprise, some of them said 'For Dungeons & Dragons? Oh Cool!'(as we start out, I am trying not to make too much of a distinction between D&D and other RPGs. That comes later...) I don't know what I find funnier; that more and more of her friends are supposed 'closet nerds', or that Gretchen can now talk to Penny and I about Orcus, Demogorgon and the other Demon Lords around our dinner table. Gretchen now understands why I call my comet goldfish 'Dagon' and the acquatic snail in the tropical tank 'Juiblex'.

I also very glad to be continuing with the Iconic Characters. In keeping with a consistent theme in Gretchen’s art, it helps to portray the theme of heroes vs. villains first and foremost. So that could happen, the Iconic Characteres needed to be nailed down securely. Now that they have been finalised, I shall be revising the overview post with the addendums I added last week. Then, I shall continue with Ms Cleric.

While I am on the topic of changing things, I am going to try and better group the labels for the posts, so it will be easy to view Iconic Characters and such with one button click.

WATCH THIS SPACE

2009-06-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'll add another post tomorrow; it is 10:15pm currently and I am rather tired.
Despite being wednesday here, tonight marks the end of rather a big week for me in terms of being a publisher. If you will excuse the pun; I have been mastering the 'art' of Letting Go; that is, letting artist Gretchen Keelty explore the fantasy worlds of Adventure Dungeons & Danger on her own. For a person who has never played an RPG, she is doing a sterling task. I am so proud of her.

Expect an update in approximately 10-12 hours ;)

WHAT? NO! I'M STILL HERE!

2009-06-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

I mentioned briefly that I am revisiting the 'tribalness' of a lot of the Iconic Characters. By changing something as simple as a character's background affects the dynamics of the rest of the Iconic Characters.

...which is why I have not posted Mercia just yet; things are getting a slight reshuffle. Once I am satisfied, I shall continue with the Iconic Characters.

In other news, I have been discussing the layout of Adventure, Dungeons & Danger with my artist Gretchen Keelty. She is about to begin work on the artwork for Dagon's Bell; the first and FREE module for Adventure, Dungeons & Danger. I shall post a cover as soon as it is ready. Dagon's Bell takes its name from the eponymous Bell that features in the adventure and the title alone is a nod to this book of short stories written by Brian Lumley. The Adventure, Dungeons & Danger version may be played on its own, but serves as a suitable lead-in to Temple of the Kraken.

Back to the layout for a second or two; I am trying to get something that is easy to read but is tempered by how 'old school' the modules need to look and yet remain synonymous with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Tomorrow involves shopping with Gretchen; paper, paint, pencils; that type of thing. The drawing board I ordered arrived today, so things are coming together. There are a lot of other things that a writer must be do in order to produce a quality product. I am learning of those things as they arise.

I shall post again soon with another update.

ICONIC CHARACTER: RONGO

2009-05-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

Found as a baby; a wretched, wet newborn swaddled in canvas amid the beached wreckage of a frigate that has run afoul of a violent storm.

The Mjaori islanders who found him took it as a sign that the gods had marked this child for greatness because the very seas could not claim this new life. He was given the name Rongo and accepted into the tribe as a ward of the chieftain. Years passed and as the Rongo matured, his Orcish ancestry manifested both physically and psychologically. As a race that holds physical might in high regard, the Mjaori welcomed Rongo’s primal nature as a manifestation of their gods’ strength. Rongo is proud of his adopted heritage and wears the facial Tā moko tattoos with pride. Yet, Rongo knows that he is different to the other Mjaori and despite their welcome; he has always felt somewhat apart from them.

Now of age, Rongo seeks to investigate his true heritage. He has left the cooler isles of the south upon a passing merchantman. Now bound for the mighty city of Rel-Draxa, Rongo has taken to sea life easily. He commits to memory the tales of his fellow travellers and at night, performs the haka on the upper decks to appease the spirits. Though unused to the clothes of civilised countries, Rongo wears simple mariner’s clothing, his weapons stored in his belt and bandoliers. His great axe and accompanying hand axe, a gifts from his adoptive father, bears the same Tā moko pattern upon the head. This he wears on his back and uses only when the need is desperate.

NOTES:
Right or wrong, Rongo is very much a ‘noble savage’ that has come to civilization. He wears the clothes in keeping with the local fashion so as to fit in, but is easily recognizable because of his facial tattoos. I first became enamoured of the ‘Savage Bard’ class variant when first presented in 'Unearthed Arcana' for 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons. In light of that though, Rongo is presented here as a traditional bard. I wanted a character that performs an aggressive dance when performing their bardic abilities (instead of a more stereotypical lute-playing, flute-blowing, or drum-banging bard). Having seen a haka first-hand, I can assure you they are quite impressive to watch. By using shouts, cries and basic movement, this keeps Rongo’s hands free for holding weapons and a shield. A player seeking to multiclass Rongo is suggested to take levels of Barbarian or perhaps Druid, as these are the favored classes for Half-Orcs. However Fighter, Rogue and especially Ranger would also round Rongo out quite nicely.

One thing I have noted is characters that have a ‘tribal’ bent. Rongo marks two of two and as I look at my Iconic Characters, I see more coming. At the very least, I may have to change one or two to diversify things.

A SPECIAL EDITION

2009-05-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a little while ago that I had been toying with the '&' in the title logo. Whilst the 'dragon' version looks good against some dark backgrounds, it does not translate well to an actual, printed copy. So as much as I liked it, it is time to say goodbye to it. I have opted for a simple, yet elaborate font to do the current job. I quite like it and I am happy with it.

When I design something for Adventure, Dungeons & Danger, I use a very simple design rule: Would a 14 year-old Andrew Gale like it? If the answer is 'no', then it is time to take a deep breath and scrap the idea. But I am doubly lucky in that regard: It also help to have access to a 14-year old who is into Roleplaying. One of my friends' sons plays a number of RPGs and I have very recently run ideas past him. From what he tells me, he thinks that some of my ideas are 'cool.' So, if you are reading this Lucas, my hat off to you.

I think the '&' was the gateway in making me realise that I am trying to bring something old school to [what is, essentially] a new RPG. I would not be happy with someone picking up an Adventure, Dungeons & Danger Module only to feel that they have been duped into buying something that is not actually 1st Edition AD&D. Like I said in my first post here, this is about injecting some of that old school magic to a new RPG.

So how do I also capture the 'Pathfinder' look in Adventure Dungeons & Danger? My friends and I own a number of Pathfinder Modules published by Paizo, and they seemed to be as good a place to start as any. In brainstorming with Grahame, he of all people liked the design you see gracing this page that accompanies the gradient background people would be more familiar with.

As always though, I am a fence sitter: I like this new design because I see "old School, but new" and I am instantly reminded of PFRPG when i look at it. But I am also after something that is easily moddable for future titles. Were these on a store shelf, Adventure, Dungeons & Danger need to look like its brothers and sisters so fans of what I do will be able to easily recognise them. The gradient background works better in my opinion in that regard.

But, here is what I am going to do: I am going to release both of them come release day. I'll be interested to see which one sells the most.

Work is progressing well on the free adventure. I will release the title and layout quite soon. Oh, and make sure to read the writeups on the Iconic Characters. Rongo the Warchanter is next!

ICONIC CHARACTER: KANNAN

2009-05-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Kannan is something of an enigma. His father is the Arcanum of the high elf nation, a wizard of incredible power. Of his father, Kannan remembers little.

When Kannan was a child, he accompanied his father upon an archaeological dig in the snowy forests of the north. An ancient city stood amid the trees, guarded by the semi-nomadic wood elves. Kannan’s father had negotiated a treaty with the wood elves and had been allowed to explore the ancient ruins of this forgotten empire.

Kannan’s father was called away to the far side of the ruins, leaving Kannan to his own devices. Disregarding his father’s stern warnings, Kannan wandered off into the ruins on his own, his mind filled with and buried treasure and legends about elvish heroes from long-ago. Kannan fell down a sinkhole into a haunted tomb. Elemental spirits howled around him as he lay shivering in the dark. Kannan remembers being very cold….

They found him several days later, wandering the ruins in his dirty, ragged clothes. Most alarmingly, Kannan’s long hair had changed from blonde to black. Kannan’s father –instead of being glad at his son’s safe return– seemed disappointed and resigned. Not long after, Kannan’s father halted the archaeological dig left. In a move that surprised the other expeditionary members, Kannan’s father left Kannan there in the care of the wood elves.

Almost a century has passed and Kannan has come of age. Kannan has grown tall, lithe and muscular. Under the tutelage of the high druids, Kannan learnt to channel and control the elemental spirits that haunt him. He has been accepted as a spirit-warrior; one of the wood elf fighting elite who channel the spirits to empower themselves in combat.

Kannan now guards the very ruins that changed his fate forever.

Several weeks ago, the ruins were attacked by a force of elves with skin the shade of midnight. They stole something from the ruins and fled. Leaving the ruins, Kannan has tracked them to the lands of men. There, he seeks the fate of what was stolen. Kannan is patient hunter; he knows that it will not be quick or easy mission and is content to hone his skills in any pursuit until his quarry surfaces.

NOTES:

The concept of an elf barbarian may be a little unbelievable at first. As my base, I worked with the concept of the ‘Wardancer’ from Warhammer Fantasy and built upon that. However, I didn’t want just a carbon copy and I also wanted Kannan not to be another elf stereotype. High elf mages and wood elf warriors have been done before, and I wanted Kannan to stand out from the bunch. By making him an adopted wood elf gives him that extra dimension. It also leaves it open for players using Kannan to believably take a spell-casting class at later levels. To keep the feel, I would suggest druid, bard, or a sorcerer with an elemental bloodline. If a player wanted to further expand on the ‘barbarian-wardancer’ as a combat style, he or she may take levels in ranger specializing in melee, or perhaps rogue. Both classes open up the way for taking the shadowdancer prestige class. Details on these classes may be found in the Pathfinder Role-playing Game.

I also could not resist working in a story-mechanic that shows why and how Kannan rages: The elemental spirits that give the spirit-warrior barbarians their power are similar to the elemental spirits that inhabit golems.

JUST FOR FUN.

2009-05-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

I have had a number of conversations with people regarding the Adventure, Dungeons & Danger title and each has highlighted the use of '&' font. I am not entirely satisfied with my most recent attempt, but I believe I am experiencing is one of the idiocyncracies of publishing. I have had a number of searches for a suitable font that graces the word between 'Dungeons' and the word 'Danger' with varying results.

The search continues, or rather continued yesterday for some hours until fonts were blurring into one another. Talking a breatk I came back to the PC and was surprised at some of the choices I had let slip through my screening process.

ATTEMPT 1:

Trying a different tack, I also thought I might hone some more of my CorelDRAW skills and adjusted an existing font to be reminiscent of TSR's '&'; as a pure outline - no dragon details. The result was a little like the foot from Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Lets just scratch that attempt.

ATTEMPT 2:

I then revisited what I was trying to do as I seemed to have lost my way. 'Just for fun' started out as a simple project to create a simple black and white dragon. The result was a mixed success, but then drawing skills are not really my forte. As a B+W object, the '&' needs a shadow to give it depth. Things were okay until...

ATTEMPT 3:

I hit my fever stage of this dreadful sickness (which my Partner is now enjoying as I write). In state of heightened reality induced by Cold & Flu medication, I came up with this. I think it works well as a B+W line drawing (reminiscent and different all at the same time), but looks stark and plain when thrust against a color background, even with a dropped shadow and with or without the wings. Coloring? Eesh. Okay then:

ATTEMPT4:

At this stage, I do not know how I feel about it (my partner dislikes it, but think that her feelings about it are colored by her feelings towards my passing on the flu to her...). The color gradient of the background now starts at the bottom of this logo instead of being at the top of the page. The over effect is that it looks darker and would probably pound your ink cartridge into submission. I also had to ditch the opposing color of the angled bannner as it detrackts from the flames coming from the dragon's mouth. I tried running with a 'silver dragon' effect by using a bevel, but that bloats the .pdf with a lot of unwanted data and translates poorly when distilled. A gradient fill worked a bit better, but I am back to the old RGB vs CYMK issue. The B+W line drawing looks (to me) really good, but as I said, does not translate well to a color background.

Maybe I could use the color logo as a banner-ad for Enworld?

BANNER AD:

I don't know.

Viewers will notice the difference between RGB black vs CYMK black in the previous screenshot. Using RGB black in the pdf is 'way too much black' for my tastes. I also found that a lot of detail is lost in the logo as it tends to blend in too well with the background unless viewed up close.

In any case, it was created 'Just for Fun'. Pathfinder's design is simple and stylistic. Dungeon Crawl Classics was (and still is) a simple and stylistic design. Compare them to this and you can see how 'busy' this logo is when placed in addition to the rest of the module's graphics.

Again, comments are welcome.

THE ICONIC CHARACTERS REVEALED!

2009-05-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I am sick. I have been sick for the last 2 days and I detest the condition and all it brings. Everything becomes hard; grocery shopping, bill-paying, banking, game-playing, you name it.

Blech.

But still, I am happy to keep my promise to you and show you the Iconic Characters of Adventure Dungeons & Danger. I have listed them by character class and given each a brief descriptor to round-out and justify the flavor I wanted for each.

I said previously that I like interesting character concepts: I want my Human Monk to be unique; I want my Dwarf Wizard to be justifiable. By giving standard race and class combinations depth, makes the character jump off the page. Similarly, by mixing unlikely races and classes with some depth gives you the justification for why such a character can exist.

My restriction in making these iconic characters was to use each of the races and classes laid out in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. There was a lot of juggling, jostling and wipes before I was satisfied with the draft. The titles for each are merely an mnemonic aid for writing their background.

So here they are:

BARBARIAN

Kannan, Male Elf Battlefury.

Hailing from the wild woods, Kannan is blessed with the grace of his heritage and the fury of his ancestors. His hair is dark and free-flowing and his statuesque physique is usually covered in war-paint.

BARD

Rongo, Male Half-Orc Warchanter.

Rongo’s people are from the volcanic isles of the southern oceans. Rongo is a practitioner of the haka; his people’s war chant. Winding blue tattoos adorn Rongo’s face and chin.

CLERIC

Mercia, Female Human Tomb-Priestess.

A devout follower of the death goddess, Mercia also holds dear the old traditions of her people and wears burial wrappings beneath her vestments.

DRUID

Corwin, Male Human Greenbond.

Despite growing up in the urban slums of Rel-Draxa, Corwin has always possessed an affinity with nature. Throughout his young life, Corwin has used this affinity to serve a common good, calming herd animals on the way to market, or knowing which fungi and weeds are poisonous and which can stave off hunger. Corwin can feel this affinity getting stronger. The sea, especially calls to him with its siren sound..

FIGHTER

Kitunai, Male Human Warmaster.

A refined warrior from the east, Kitunai is well-versed in the way of bushido. Kitunai holds the disciplines of calligraphy and painting with as high regard as the art of war.

MONK

Kiawatha, Male Human Bear Totem Warrior.

Some six-and-a-half feet tall, Kiawatha has emerged from the new continent searching for the lost members of his tribe. When not relying on his bare hands to stop his foes, he wields an immense totem-staff in combat.

PALADIN

Joréune, Female Half (Sea)Elf Atlantean Knight
One of the last few decendants of aquatic elves that fled the massacre of Qe'eltalos over 10,000 years ago, Joréune is epitomises the passsion of a fey knight and a spirit of a warrior-goddess. Having seen a suit of ancient armor once belonging to an aquatic Paladin-King, Joréune seeks to rediscover the lost legacies of her elvish ancestry.

RANGER (Ranged)

Llander, Male Human Hawkeye.

Blessed with keen sight and unerring accuracy, Llander is a sought companion by many Merchantmen operating out of Rel-Draxa, be it in the crows nest as a lookout or as a sharpshooter in the heat of battle. Llander is stoic, speaking little of his past.

ROGUE

Shibiku, Female Gnome Mistress of Knaves

A slip of a girl with almond shaped eyes and when clad all in black, Shibiku is easy to miss. Shibiku grew up in the east, in the squalid streets of the empire.

SORCERER

Talib, Male Human Sorcerer-Nomad

Talib is a “Sha’ir” or poet of the desert realms. The arcane power of his poetry commands much respect among the desert-dwellers, foreigners and uncanny beings alike.

WIZARD

Balthazeus, Male Dwarf Magesmith

Balthazeus’ dark hair and beard are well groomed and he prefers to keep his moustache oiled and teased in an upwards crest. Balthazeus equally enjoys the fineries of palatial living as well as the hard toil and heat of the forge.

NEXT WEEK:

Kannan; an in depth look!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

2009-05-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Attached to this post is is a more complete version of the front cover for Temple of the Kraken (click on the picture to see a larger version). Readers will notice the updated Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatible logo and the addition of an angled strip to the left hand side (in a suitably different color) containing the slogan "Learn more about the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at paizo.com." The intention is to attach a hyperlink to that object which links back to the Paizo Website, specifically the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game page.

Having perused the paizo.com website recently, I see that some of the 3rd party publishers are able to obtain an advance copy of the rules prior to their release in August 2009. It seems that there is a number of criteria that makes a prospective company eligible. As this is Sagawork Studios first venture; it apppears that the Sagaworks do not meet that critera. Paizo have deemed however, that it is possible to make exemptions to that criteria, so it appears that there is no harm in asking.

Writing is progressing well as is planning and organising future titles. In a few days I will begin the first of the Iconic Characters that will grace the 'prerolled characters' section of the Adventure Dungeons & Danger Game Modules. Be warned though, I am an avid fan of archetypes having a non-standard nature!

So, back to the picture! What do you think? Comments are welcome!

ICONIC CHARACTERS ARE OLD SCHOOL

2009-05-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks, I am going to introduce the Iconic Characters that will feature as the pre-generated characters for Adventure, Dungeons & Danger. When I mentioned this to several of my gaming buddies while waiting for the remainder to turn up, each of them said: ‘Dude, hang on a second; Iconics are definitely not Old School.’ I had planned for this, as I am wont to do: I had been spending a lot of time wrestling with the same argument.

Me: ‘So let’s do some word association guys. I’ll give you a character class, and you give me a corresponding Iconic. When I say Iconic, I am talking about anything you think is synonymous with that class, not just your classic Iconic Characters. A good example is if I said 'Ranger' I'd accept 'Drizzt Do'Urden' as an answer. At the very least, try and give me the reasoning why you think that your chosen character is Iconic.’

Grahame: ‘*sigh* ok’

Dan: ‘Uh, sure’

Ash: ‘Let’s go’

Me: ‘Alright, here we go: Cleric’

Grahame: ‘Jozan. Iconic from 3rd Edition. Featured in a lot of D&D art.’

Dan: ‘Uh, Cadderly. The hero of the Cleric Quintet.’

Ash: ‘Damn, that was mine, ok…the Pathfinder chick, uh, uh, uh..Kyra.’

Me (smiling): ‘You can have the same answers. I just want to know what springs to mind when I give you the character class. Oh, and by the way, my answer is: Mercion.’

‘Who?’ They effectively replied in unison.

Me: ‘No Time! Next! Wizard or Magic User!’

Grahame: ‘Easy. Mordenkainen. Definitely Iconic, lots of spells bear his name and he was a creator’s character, wasn’t he?’

Dan: ‘Elminster. Novels and novels feature him.’

Ash: ‘Elminster. Same.’

Me: ‘Ringlerun.’

Another quizzical look.

Me: 'Next! This one is a little more open: a Fighter of some description, but evil.’

Grahame: ‘Lord Soth. Dragonlance.

Dan: ‘Lord Soth. Same.’

Ash: ‘Warduke--‘

Me: ‘--Ah ha! Ash, why did you say Warduke?’

Ash: 'I dunno—I got my son the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon DVD and I remember seeing Warduke in one of the episodes. It reminded me of that Critical Threat from your Dungeon Magazine a while ago.’

Me: ' Ok cool. My answer was Warduke as well. Like my other answers, they each relate back to the one thing: Quest for the Heartstone.’

Others: ‘Huh?’

Grahame: ‘Yeah, I remember now; that was one I ran about 15-20 years ago. I suppose this is one of your nostalgia trips? You bought it didn’t you?’

Me: ‘Well yes, I did. I’m sorry; I predicted that you’d all answer something like this. And it just shows that marketing has a big effect on what we remember. A lot of your answers are coloured by what has resonated with you the most. Because of his RPG tastes, Grahame touched on it with Mordenkainen. Ash did the same with Warduke because he saw that cartoon and remembered the Dungeon Magazine. That also goes for Dan's answers as well because the novels were his introduction to D&D. Regardless, the Marketing Department can pat themselves on that back and say mission accomplished.’

I reached into my bag and pulled out my scuffed copy. I opened it to the middle section and laid it out for them to see.

Ash: ‘Oh cool, that’s the original Warduke! Oh, they made action figures of these guys? That’s lame.’

Dan: ‘A lot of these guys I’ve not heard of mate; they sorta don’t mean anything to me.’

Grahame: ‘Andrew, I’ve gotta say when I think “Magic User”, I think Mordenkainen, or even Elminster before I'll I think of Ringlerun.’

Me: ‘But I think that proves my point about your exposure to the game. My main point is that the concept of Iconic Characters have been around since Basic D&D and AD&D.’

Grahame: ‘Yeah, alright. I do like the black and white illustrations. Well, they're your modules so it’s your funeral.’

Me: ‘Okay, How about this: We have six players in our group, how about the next time I DM, we run this as a one-off? Three Lawful and Three Chaotic characters and you have to roleplay the hell out of their alignments. I wanna see some conflict! Let’s make-believe this is the first time this module has been run as a playtest; kinda like Gygax and Arneson running Castle Greyhawk or Temple of Elemental Evil for the first time.’

Ash: ‘How about tonight? I vote Warduke!’*

Dan: ‘Yeah, I’m easy.’

Grahame: ‘Well, I love old school and I don’t remember much. There are no real Rangers in Basic, so I think I’ll take Peralay.’**

Dan: ‘Yeah…I'm a bit "meh" but I'm game. I’ll wait for the others to choose and even up the side. I’ll either go Figgen or Zarak’***

…it was a bit slow at the start as we had to convince the other three; (Beau, Con and the DM, Sean) and I had re-read a lot of the entries, mostly as I ran them, but long story short: We had a good afternoon (and night and er….early morning)!

The lawful adventurers won in the end, primarily because Dan eventually chose Figgen and played extremely well with Grahame’s Peralay. I like to think that I got my point across about Iconic Characters being Old School (which really boiled down to Gahame conceding that -if done right- Iconic Characters can be 'Old School').

That said though, expect to see some stereotypes turned on their head. I showed Grahame and he likes them, even if they are unusual.

THIS WEEK:
The Iconic Characters of Adventure, Dungeons & Danger!

NEXT WEEK:
An in-depth look at the Iconic Characters in turn.

*(Ash is excitable: He also plays an Unholy Death Knight in World of Warcraft simply because he loves corpse explosion. He needs to get out more.)

**(Grahame always has to play a Ranger or an arrow flinger of some description. He chose Peralay simply because he saw the bow in the illustration. This man also needs to get out more.)

***(Dan, god bless him is really easy going. He does get out a lot more than the other two -and I believe- my target audience.)

VALLEY OF THE NECROMANCER KINGS!

2009-04-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week. I have sent off my One Page Dungeon to ChattyDM. It seems that I have right up to the closing date to edit it, but I am not a believer in doing so immediately. I shall leave this one for a few days before reading it again with a fresh set of eyes.

Incidentally, this one went through 14 revisions in CorelDRAW. Prior to that, the catacomb layout went through a number of incarnations before landing in my Little Black Book of Dungeons(tm)**. I have to say that the experience for me was priceless and I want to talk about that in a separate post. Something along the lines of 'Evolution of a D&D Dungeon.'

So without further ado, I present to you Valley of the Necromancer Kings (in an --almost editionless format--see previous post). Writing it was a lot of fun and I hope that it invokes the spirit of Keep on the Borderlands, Temple of Elemental Evil, Lich Lords, the Demonic Three and the World of Orb ( the last two are purely for those who know them). I had so much fun in fact, that I would like to revisit the Valley of the Necromancer Kings as an Adventure Dungeons & Danger Game Module.

Tomorrow I get back into Temple and the other Adventure Dungeons & Danger modules. No rest for the wicked! Again --as always-- comments and questions are welcome :)

** Not actually a SWS product but is in fact my version of a Handy-Billy; my Moleskine Pocket Squared Notebook. Buy one; you will never know when you need to DM a quick Dungeon Bash. Hmm, maybe a pocket sized book of dungeons would be a good product.

BARGLE (OR, HOW WRITING IS MAKING ME PEDANTIC, ER... IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME)

2009-04-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

As I approach the end of my One-Pager, I am slowly becoming aware a number of issues in keeping my One-Page Dungeon totally ‘Edition-less’ as per the rules. To the casual RPG player, this rule gives a general freedom in terms of making is accessible to all editions (of D&D).

But it does mean a lot more than that. The following are the hurdles I have encountered:

On NPC classes (and try to stay with me on this one, here):

If I use the term ‘Wizard’ to refer to a class, am I technically exempting 1st Edition AD&D/OSRIC and 2nd Edition AD&D? If I use Magic-User, am I exempting 2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition D&D? What if I use 'Mage?' How does that impact relationships to 1st/OSRIC, 3rd and 4th Edition? If I use the term ‘Cleric’, am I exempting 2nd Edition AD&D for not using Priest? Conversely, if I use ‘Priest’, am I excluding 1st, 3rd and 4th Edition? If I use 'Rogue' do I exempt 1st Edition AD&D/OSRIC? If I use 'Thief', do I exempt 2nd 3rd and 4th Edition?

(Now before you answer, I would like you to read the WHOLE post before commenting.)

On a magically locked door:

Wizard Lock is a 1st and 2nd edition spell, Arcane Lock is the analogue for 3rd (and I imagine 4th) edition. So how do I indicate a magically locked door besides hold portal?

On magical items:

I can’t place a staff of striking at all! (/whine)

Yes, this is pure pedantry. But I want to keep it in line with the rule-less=edition-less instruction. Is mentioning a character class or spells or even magical items considered as mentioning rules?

Now that I read back over the example in the Font of Sorrows, I can see that there is an ‘Undead High Priest’ mentioned. No class, just ‘Undead High Priest.’ So in looking at mine, perhaps I can solve the NPC Class issue by giving NPCs funky titles and let prospective DMs concern themselves with various classes and levels?

Using that rationale, a most correct entry would read:

14A BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, 32cp

Instead of:

14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. Bargle, Magic-User. Hand and Eye of Vecna, 32cp

What do you think? As for the magically locked door, I foresee a number of options:

a) Don’t use them (really, not an option):
14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. A lockable door leads to the surf. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, 32cp

b) Use a generic term:
14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. A magically locked door (as the appropriate spell) leads to the surf. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, 32cp

c) Use a specific term and add a caveat:

14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. An arcane locked (or equivalent) door leads to the surf. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, 32cp

Thinking about it, I thought that (c) is the most correct and I shall tell you why:

Thunder and Lightning.

Thunder and Lightning?

Well more specifically: Staff/Rod of Thunder and Lightning.

In 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D, this item appeared as a Staff of Thunder and Lightning. In 3rd Edition, it appeared as a Rod of Thunder and Lightning. I am not too sure what 4th Edition uses (I am assuming a Rod, unless it was scrapped, ala Staff of Striking…)

So why would I write:

a) Generically--

14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. A magically locked door (as the appropriate spell) leads to the surf. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, Rod/Staff of Thunder and Lightning (as the appropriate item) 32cp

--when I could write:

b) Specifically, but with a caveat?

14A. BARGLE’S BEACH HUT: Sparsely furnished bamboo hut on the beach with a bed, a small table and chair as well as a locked chest in NW corner. An arcane locked (or equivalent) door leads to the surf. Bargle the Necromancer. Hand and Eye of Vecna, Rod of Thunder and Lightning (or equivalent) 32cp

That is my preference because it isn’t clumsy, but I am concerned that it adheres to an edition-specific vernacular (SRD specific in this case), thus disqualifying me, and flys in the face of my NPC-funky-title-and-let-the-DM-sort-out-the-class argument. I also don't want to fill up my one and only page with (as appropriate XXX) and then (as equivalent YYY). Space is a premium, remember: One page only.

Or is there a point (or a number of points) I am overlooking? I just want to know what is more correct?

I am really curious what others think about this and I invite you to comment. Remember, this contest is Edition-less, rule-less, but by the very nature of flavor and character which makes a dungeon cool, one adds in bits which generally gravitate towards the editions one favors the most.

THE GHOSTWATERS (REVISITED) AND A SLIGHT NAME CHANGE.

2009-04-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen; I must apologise. When I said that my layout manager was going to scan in the 'Weathered' copy of the Ghostwaters, I didn't realise that she was going on holidays for a week.

In any case, it has been a week put to good use. I mentioned previously that I am entering the One Page Dungeon Contest and I am happy to say that the rough draft of the room description is done, along with most of the full map. I have only to add some stairs and tweak a location or two and it will be ready to post. As an aside, I wonder if I am shooting myself in the foot so-to-speak or run the risk of disqulification if I post my entry here? I certainly hope not, but you all win with my fantastic catacomb layout. I'll save more about the one pager for a later post.

So, back onto the Ghostwaters, Temple of the Shark and what the last week has allowed me to do. Readers may remember my slight concern regarding Shrine of Frenzy. I was relieved to see that the bulk of Nicholas Logue's adventure was quite different, however I saw this as a good opportunity to revamp my original idea and make to totally unique. To that end, I have made the requisite changes to Temple of the Shark. It also means that I have had to change the module's working title to:

TEMPLE OF THE KRAKEN.

This change is allows me to keep the parts I want and still make it unusual and unique...and also, this title works better with artistry! I shall therefore make the oppropriate changes to this site to reflect the new title.

Now onto the Ghostwaters; the map needs to be changed to accomodate the changes I have made to the location and to a number of plot devices, so I am releasing this rough draft map ala 'Maps of Mystery' style. You may download a PDF here (512K). The uh, weathered version did not go as well as I expected; it just looks like a piece of paper that I have screwed up a number of times. You can laugh at that version here (5MB).

You may notice two different version of 'black' in the PDF version; a CYMK version (which appears more 'gray') and an RGB version. As stated, this is a rough draft and when I printed it, the black bits still looked black. Future maps will use one version of black only.

ONE PAGE DUNGEON CONTEST

2009-04-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

The Chatty DM is hosting a One Page Dungeon Contest. It seems that this One-Page business has grown astronomically since it was first introduced by Sham’s Grog and Blog, being a throwback to the BECMI and AD&D. I shall refrain from reposting the contest rules here, but those who are interested in entering may view the rules here.

When I first learnt how to play D&D, I was fortunate enough to have a small number of closet nerds at my school that played B.E.C.M.I. and AD&D. I remember them running a few impromptu dungeons from a one page sheet, so for me, this is like coming home.

Now, while I should be working on the FREE adventure, Temple, Dweller, et. al. I find myself immersing myself in a one page dungeon instead.What you see here is the genus of my map. It doesn’t give a lot away, but that is the point. As you can see, I am going for the ‘old school’ look by using some old school modules as inspiration for this one. Like I said, this map is in its infancy, it will blow your mind when I've finished! Once I have submitted it, I shall post it here for people to see and for GMs/DMs/Castle Keepers to nab.

Astute people will also recognise CorelDRAW as my publishing program of choice: This is where I do the bulk of my map and module creation. I have spent some time improving the original by making the graph paper modular; allowing the user to fill the squares therein with an appropriate color. Angled walls and caverns are just a poly-line, joined and filled to stay in line with the walls.

The end result looks rather sexy. The best part is that Adventure, Dungeons and Danger game modules will not suffer from pixilation. I mentioned that before, but it is worth saying again. You can see how it looks as a PDF here.

Think of this entry as an example of what you can expect from Sagawork Studios and Adventure Dungeons & Danger.

PS: Dweller? More on that soon. Slow and steady wins the race :)

THE GHOSTWATERS

2009-04-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a prototype map in A4 Landscape, detailing Shark Isle and the surrounding shallows of the Ghostwater. As I stated in earlier posts, I am a fan of the older style of Black + White maps using vector graphics to maintain crisp, clean images. Originally, I was also going to show you a photo of one that I have also 'aged' (to make it look like a worn, used map you'd generally find under glass at a mueseum).

The camera I have chosen to (been forced to) use however, makes it look just like a piece of paper I have scewed up, then flattened out: Not really doing my efforts any favours. After Easter, I shall have my layout coordinator scan it in to look at. In the meantime, please enjoy this photograph of my 'clean' prototype.

SINISTER ADVENTURES

2009-04-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

In a past life I was a sailor, so that might explain where I live and why I am attracted to adventures to do with the sea.

When I say 'past life' I am waxing lyrical; I served as a Sailor in the Royal Australian Navy for a period of 10 years; 1991 until 2001. I had some good times, saw a lot of strange and wonderful things and now I live in apartment that overlooks the bay leading to the heads in Sydney. The area was once mangrove, judging by the trees that grow on our streets. Ours is a hot and humid climate during the summer and mild in the cold months; which incidentally is my favourite time of year. Dark cloud roil over the bluffs and my living room windows bear the brunt of the weather year round. I especially love it when it rains.

I am getting off track. I wanted to talk about Sinister Adventures; founded and headed by Nicholas Logue; who in my opinion is a masterful storyteller and is also seems to be enamoured with the sea. His upcoming Razor Coast looks to be a fine product in the making.
I was further intrigued by his Indulgences, specificallly the Shrine of Frenzy. I am at once amazed and also a little dismayed given my choice of 'Temple of the Shark'. Naturally, curiosity got the better of me and I bought a copy.

Before I talk a little more about it, I want to tell you a little on how my mind works. I am the type of guy who is easily inspired by what I see around me. I may hear something, see something or be merely exposed to something and I'll say 'Hey! A thought has struck me about how this could be a really cool adventure.' I think the best way to explain it would be to watch a preview for a great action movie and then have high expectations of that movie. In my imaginings, I hold onto that and try to get as much out of that as possible before I lose it by actually seeing said movie, or read said book, for example.

Getting back to Shrine of Frenzy, I am happy to say that is is somewhat different to what I was doing with Temple of the Shark. In any case, it did get me thinking about ToS though, and what I could do to sufficiently change it to be something unique, but more on that soon.

SoF is a tight little adventure, easily adapted into most settings; I can see it slotted into Paizo's Savage Tide, alongside a Freeport adventure or even alongside some of the Dungeon Crawl Classics from Goodman Games.

I'd recommend a visit to Sinister Adventures.

TRUST ISSUES FOR WIZARDS OF THE COAST

2009-04-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed to hear that WotC has suspended sale of any WotC PDF for the foreseeable future. From what I can see, it appears to be tied in with persons distributing their PDFs via peer to peer software.

WotC have taken legal action against these people but what they have also done is contacted those 3rd party publishers who have legitimate license to sell these PDFs and have ordered those 3rd party publishers remove them from sale.

While I am not going to comment on what WotC have done and how it has affected a lot of people, I will say that I am glad I wrote what I wrote in the last post. Admittedly, it is date-stamped after the incident, but I do want to assure you that I have been away over Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at an Australian Antarctic Expedition seminar/interview. I come back, check Paizo, and find out about the PDF situation.

Imagine my surprise. As a customer of WotC in the past, I have forgone buying stuff from them since the turn of events with Dragon & Dungeon. It purely saddens me to see this happening consistently where it appears that there is a betrayal of trust and a sense of WotC being out of touch.

Trust is important with your customers, which it now why I remain fully resolved to nurture that trust with you. My philosophy has always been ‘Less talk, head down, bum up working.’ (It is an Aussie thing to say and quite innocent to boot, so please don’t read into that!)

But to nurture that very thing which is important, I need to take the time and keep you updated with what is going on. This is my verisimilitude; my transparency; I am a hard worker by nature. These things do take time as I am sure everyone understands.

So even if I get this job in Antarctica, I am still committed to Sagawork Studios. Gaming is my passion. PDFs will be available. Print copies will be available. They will be sufficiently old school.

ON TRUST, ARTISTRY AND BEING MODULAR

2009-04-07T01:29:00.001-07:00

I have just spent rewriting this post. Initially, it talked about the concept of gaining and maintaining trust and how it is important to keep those things constant with a customer and/or fan base in terms of offering them something.

I scrapped it.

Please don’t get me wrong; I believe these things are very important. Even more important is the assurance that I give you, the reader, the potential buyer and the potential fan of my work that things are progressing.

Just a little more about me:

I lost my job recently and between hunting for another one, I spend my time writing. You can see several posts ago that I talked a little about the history of Temple of the Shark, among other things and how it has been kicking around in my head and on paper in several incarnations.

Well anyway, things are still progressing. I meant what I said about getting this puppy out there. I am also working on a number of other modules and things are taking time to shape up.

One of the most important things I think is the look of Adventure, Dungeons & Danger. To that end, I have secured the talents of Gretchen Keelty; a friend of mine to do some ‘old school’ artistry for my second release. Gretchen is an avid painter and illustrator, having entered the 2009 Archies and whilst she was not selected as a finalist, she is one cracking illustrator. She is doing some mock ups for Dweller… whoops, no more on that yet.

I have also spent my time doing a lot of research on what makes old school, well, old school in terms of RPG products. Me personally, I came in fairly late into the first runs of D&D and AD&D, having cut my teeth on the castle andd the three level dungeon from the Red Box in the mid 1980’s. From there, it was straight into AD&D, so I feel that there is a lot I missed in terms of being a grognard. I consider Village of Hommlet et al as the old school stuff. Others can and will disagree, but I digress….

My main focus is to produce the stuff I would have bought as a kid (had I the money). I want to see a series of 32-page adventure modules, easily slotted into any campaign as a side adventure, as interludes between Adventure Path scenarios, or strung together into campaign in their own right.

Ultimately, Adventure modules should be modular.

SAMPLE MAP

2009-03-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

I am having a lot of fun with a drawing program at the moment by creating some old school style maps for Adventure, Dungeons & Danger; the type you would find in a little map booklet that would come with the old AD&D modules like Temple of Elemental Evil, Socurge of the Slavelords or Queen of Spiders.

I first saw this redone in Necromancer Games' Crucible of Freya and then later on in Rappan Athuk I, II and III. To this day, it is the maps that keep me coming back. Maps are the one of the main things that sells me an adventure and I am sorry to say that often, a adventure is let down because of poor cartography. It does not take much to devote time to creating a decent map; in fact sometimes I would prefer to create the map first, then the adventure to suit.

Seeing things from my end, I think that this picture does not really do justice to what this drawing program I have does; zoom in close enough and the map becomes pixellated. I am determinted ot avoid that in a finished product and I already have some prototypes working so no matter how far a map is zoomed in, all you will see is nice clean. crisp lines. Enjoy.

WELL WRITTEN

2009-03-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

I have been following the RPG Superstar 2009 at a distance over at Paizo Publishing. Taking cues from past experiences, I find that this is the best way to stay objective about the whole contest. I would rather my vote count towards an item, villain, lair or adventure I liked and as a result, me buy a product based on that, rather than having voted for something that was a bit 'meh' just because I felt obligated to. So, when I say 'at a distance' I mean that I followed these basic rules:

Reading the only the submissions.
Voting for the submissions that I liked.

It also meant:

Not following the forums.
Not voting for anything if I saw nothing I liked.

I have entered RPG Superstar twice now and I'll admit that my item this time fell into the Item Stereotype of "Pan's Labyrinth Chalk Item" and a "Spell in a Can". The details of my submission follows:

=========================

CHALK OF THE TRAILBLAZER
Aura moderate divination and transmutation; CL 12th
Slot –; Price 23,760 gp; Weight –

DESCRIPTION
This stick of rune-inscribed chalk is an item prized by many explorers and adventuring groups, assisting them greatly whilst exploring the unknown and forgotten. Chalk of the Trailblazer has two functions:

Portal: When the user sketches a rough, door-shaped rectangle on any wooden, plaster or stone wall and speaks the command word, the sketch lines turns black and the area within the lines becomes a passage up to 15 feet deep; identical to a Passwall spell.

Pathfinder: By concentrating on a particular location and speaking another command word, the chalk animates, acting as a Find the Path spell: The chalk moves with the user, scribbling notes, markers and directions in Common on any surface, indicating the most direct physical route to that specified location. The chalk is attuned to the person who activated it, only moving when she moves until the spell expires or the user reaches her destination.

The chalk allows the use of either function (but not both) once per day.

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Animate Object, Find the Path, Passwall; Cost 11,880 gp

=========================

I was geeked, however to have the item described as well written. It is these types of things which make me persist in what I do as a writer and storyteller, which is why I am pursuing the publication of my own Adventure Modules. Though, every step I take down this road towards my goal means that I will not be able to enter future RPG Superstar Contests by virtue of becoming a published author exempts me from competition.

Still, I am excited about this prospect, like I am excited for the finalists in RPG Superstar 2009; I hope that this experience leads you onto bigger accomplishments. In fact, that is something that does not just apply to the finalists; but everyone who has entered any RPG Superstar contest.

After RPG Superstar 2009 concludes, I would like the runners-up to contact me in regards to their finalist entries. That said, there are some finer details that would need to be worked out with Paizo Publishing before I can give anything concrete.

FREE ADVENTURE, DUNGEONS & DANGER GAME MODULE!

2009-03-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

I am now furiously working on a free adventure module; something to launch the Adventure, Dungeons & Danger line; something that will remind you and me what gaming is all about. This introductry adventure will lead straight into TS1-3 Temple of the Shark, but is not crucial to the story development.

So that's decided then; I am going forward with Temple of the Shark as Sagawork Studio's first retail product. Looking further ahead, I am really excited about Adventure #2 and its larger scope, but more on that later!

Some of you may have noticed that this blog has changed look a number of times over the last few days, that is because I am still toying with the best layout that is easy to read, is simple and does not detract from the products I am making. Any comments on the website, the adventures or anything RPG related are most welcome!

I WAS KEKATAAG ON TOWER OF THE SUN

2009-03-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is a submission I did for Mongoose Publishing as part of an open call some four or five years ago. As a kid, I loved Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series and the Lone Wolf series. Growing up in country Australia, this is the closest I got to roleplaying for a long time. Mark and his brother Adrian, his friends Danny and Peter was that next step into roleplaying games. Something I dearly hold onto.

But I always had a love for Lone Wolf and his sole struggle against the Darklords of Helgedad. When Mongoose Publishing released the LONE WOLF Roleplaying Game, I was a happy geek and glad to build upon something that gave me hours of enjoyment as a kid.

The submisison wasn't accepted, my biggest failing was that I wrote it for 3rd Edition rules, not 3.5. There is also a lot of fluff that you have to trawl through in order to get to the crunch, which can make for arduous reading. I opted to finish what I started and originally published this over at Tower of the Sun; a LWRPG Fansite. The guys over at Tower of the Sun were doing an update of my rules to 3.5 rules. Fans may want to pop over there and see how it was going. I used to post under the name of Kekataag (for fans of the genre, Kekataag [the guy with the Axe, seen here attacking Alyss for possession of the Moonstone] was a dark champion of Naar, Master of the Planes of Darkness)

So here it is in all its flawed glory; the Book of Magnakai (1.19MB Download, click the picture to get to the download page). Please bear in mind that you will need the following to make sense of the rules:

The Lone Wolf Roleplaying Game
3rd Edition Players Handbook
3rd Edition Dungeon Masters Guide
3rd Edition Monster Manual

I like to think that I have learnt from this project; some valuable lessons about writing, publishing and attention to detail.

EDIT: Having perused the Mongoose Publishing website, I cannot seem to find the Lone Wolf Roleplaying Game...perhaps they have pulled it? I did see however, that Mongoose Publishing have re-released some of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books.

Maybe I should do a Pathfinder version of LW roleplaying, purely as a fan thing?

ADVENTURE, DUNGEONS & DANGER!

2009-03-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

This is a work in progress; an adventure module I was doing for D20 and it's original title was 'Lord of the Lightless Depths'. When Paizo published a similar-named adventure called 'The Lightless Depths' as part of their Savage Tide Adventure Path, I pulled it. Besides, I think that the RPG community had quite enough of adventures revolving around pirates at that stage.

Temple of the Shark is a tentative title; referring to an ancient stone tower steeped in Lovecraftian horror that was once the hideout of Amaul 'The Shark', a brutal and sadistic pirate who sold his soul to Dagon and in return was granted unearthly power. Of course, Amaul's reign of terror was ended decades ago. The dread pirate is long dead; executed for his crimes. However, a series of strange and unnatural events occur and....

That's enough for now :)

Veterans of roleplaying may note similarities to Joseph Goodman's nod to the original adventure modules. Mine is the next incarnation: The 'Adventure, Dungeons and Danger' series.

Just a note on the artwork; 'The Kraken' is (c) Vehige Studios and is used with permission. I contacted Adam Vehige around two years ago through DeviantART and bought the permission to use it. I was geeked to see that Adam is now doing some work for Paizo. Well done, Adam! Keep up the great artwork!

Now that Paizo are launching their own Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, I think this would be a good opportunity to revisit this project and all the others like it.

I even think a free intoductory adventure is in order.

OLD SCHOOL FOR A NEW EDITION

2009-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the launch of Sagawork Studios!

WHAT DOES SAGAWORK STUDIOS DO?

Sagawork Studios, or 'The Sagaworks' as it is affectionately known around here, is the company face of one person (at the moment) that will produce adventures and campaigns for the PATHFINDER (tm) Roleplaying Game produced by Paizo Publishing.

SO WHAT IS A ROLEPLAYING GAME, EXACTLY?

From wiki link: 'A role-playing game (RPG; often roleplaying game) is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

SO WHAT MAKES YOUR ADVENTURES & CAMPAIGNS DIFFERENT TO OTHER COMPANIES?

The concept Sagawork Studios was running with was a 32 page adventure module that may either be played as a stand alone adventure or linked together in various ways to form a campaign. What inspired me to do this was the way I was introduced to the 'Series' sets of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, S1-4 Scourge of the Slavelords and the epic GDQ1-7 Queen of Spiders

I am trying to get some of that back and offer it to you.

PDF OR PRINT?
The adventures will be downloadable PDFs and The Sagaworks are investigating the option of POD through Lulu.com.

Comments are welcome please, I'd like to hear from you! What themes and genres do you want to see? Feel free to post a comment here or email me at sagawork.studios@gmail.com

Thanks for visiting. More soon!