Last Day of the Sale

Today's the last day of the big sale. When I wake up tomorrow, I'm setting all the prices back to normal.

Hope everyone had a good year and here's to an even better 2013.

The Big Book of Graph Paper at Lulu

I finally realized that if I ever wanted a thick hard-backed book filled with graph paper for a reasonable cost I'd have to make it myself, so I just did. I've called it (oh so creatively) The Big Book of Graph Paper and I've just put it up for sale at Lulu for only $25. Couple that with the 26DEC coupon going on right now for 40% off and you've got a pretty good bargain. It's 181 pages of .25 inch graph paper with 11 extra pages of isometric graph paper for 3D doodlings.

I kept the cover very neutral as I expect people to want to use this for their gaming, but I think it's distictive enough to allow the eye to quickly find it on a bookshelf or such. Hopefully, the graph paper spine will stick out on the shelf.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

It's the time of year when "Some Assembly Required" can be its own adventure. Best wishes to you and yours.

Advanced Adventures #29: The Doom of Red Rauthim

Thought I should drop a note letting everyone know that I've finished lay-out for AA#29 and sent out the art order. Today feels like a lazy day (snowing) so I may just goof off for a change for the rest of the day.

30% off Hardcovers LULU coupon (20DEC)

As a head's up, Lulu's put up a 30% off hardcovers coupon for today only. You probably wouldn't get a book before Christmas, but it's still a good price.

A Shadowvein Expansion?

So I've got each of the areas in underground player's map below fleshed out (In The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom, Down the Shadowvein, and The Mouth of the Shadowvein), but on the GM's map  there are about two times as many potential places to flesh out as shown below. Part of me thinks I should slowly work on each area and then release an underground wilderness-crawl. I think that given the relative low-level of the adventures (2-6) it could turn into a good resource for GMs to raid for their own campaigns.

Great Art for Gaming

Daermaa World Map (well part of one at least)

Here's a big overview map of the world I'm setting my adventures in...

Sunday Un-Seriousness

Tome of Tomes

Holy Carp, Batman! It's been almost a month since the last tome of tomes. Time to correct that!

The History of the Banthams
Author: William Wisstelthep
Race: Human
Dimensions: 8x8x1
Weight: 4lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, stoneboard, parchment
Rarity: Rare
Fields of Study: Humankind
Special Knowledge Categories: History, politics & genealogy
Value: 35 gp

This long, dry history chronicles the rise of the Banthams from mean beginnings to the ascendancy of King Arnold IV. Written by the official house historian, the work seriously whitewashes the history of the family. Although most of the major issues are discussed (such as the civil war) they are presented in the most pleasing manner possible and are simply not to be trusted as an authoritative account.

The Witch Mounds - Jan 2013

Here's the cover from The Witch Mounds - an Advanced Adventure releasing in January 2013. This is the first one for us by Keith Sloan. This one was ran at Gary Con IV to much enjoyment.

Bitterroot Briar - Feb 2013

Here's the cover for an upcoming Advanced Adventure due in February 2013. This is the first module by Lang and I like the tone. It's got a great "fairy tale: feeling about it, IMO.

AA Compendium Two Also Sold Out

I've just sold out of Advanced Adventures Compendium Two and I've put it up for sale at LULU for a discounted price just as I did the first one as stated in the prior blog post.

Again, thanks for everyone's support.

10-Year Sale Update

Well, we're 6 days into our big sale and I have to say that I didn't stock as well as I should have. We've ran out of Advanced Adventures Compendium One, AA #20, and AA#15. We're also out of the 1-on-1 Compendium (but I'd expected that - I need to do a complete reprint of that one).

Thankfully, such errors on my part are at least not terrible errors. From a business perspective, it's always nice to underestimate the response to a sale as opposed to an overestimation.

That said, I know there are a lot of people who wanted in on the AA Compendiums, so to help make up for my mistake, I've changed the LULU price of Advanced Adventures Compendium One to something similar to the sales price for our big sale after you use the discount coupon FELICITAS to get 20% off. This way, those who you who really wanted it will be able to get it.

My apologies for running out of stock and thanks to everyone who's made a purchase and my apologies for those who wanted something we're now out of.

Massive $5 Advanced Adventures Sale! All December 2012.

I've decided to do our first $5 module sale at the Expeditious Retreat website. Every Advanced Adventure Module is now on sale for only $5 for the printed adventure. I've done 50% off sales before, so this is the lowest price on any of the AA's since we started making them in 2006. As a special bonus, Advanced Adventures #2: The Red Mausoleum, and Advanced Adventures #3: The Curse of the Witch Head are being sold for only $2! Two bucks for an adventure simply cannot be beat.

Also on the OSR front, I now have the Advanced Adventures Compendium One and Compendium Two hardcovers available through our website as well as the hardcover version of Malevolent & Benign (our OSR monster book - you should pick it up, it's cool). These three books are also on sale for 50% off.

Additionally, all the remaining Sorcery & Super Science printed books are on sale for 75% off! I don't have any of the core-rulebooks anymore, but at $3 a pop, the supplements are quite the deal for those interested in the game. For those who like general post-apoc craziness, the ZZZ Quick Guide to North America is pretty-much systemless and could easily serve as a good setting for any post-apoc game, IMO.

On the Pathfinder front, our 1 on 1 Adventures #12-#15 are also on sale for only $5. Malevolent & Benign (Pathfinder version) is on sale for 50% off and even though we've only got one copy of the 1 on 1 Compendium left it's also at half-off.

Finally, the first book we ever published (back in March, 2003) A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe is also on sale for 50% off. It's the second edition of the text and, in my not so humble opinion, a great resource for running a pseudo or quasi-medieval campaign.

So that's quite a long commerical-oriented post. I've been publishing now for almost 10 years, and my birthday is in December, so help me fund some goodies for myself.... :-)

Merry Ho-Ho and have a happy version of whatever you choose to celebrate!

EDIT: ON SHIPPING: Shipping may become expensive for non-US customers who order many products as our system doesn't calculate shipping very well on such orders, unfortunately. If shipping comes out more than a few bucks different than the actual shipping price, I'll refund the excess to you. I'll treat you right.

Voyager Ships at Wharf - Worlds Apart

Dweomercrafters from Worlds Apart

The Undead Leviathan

Here's two pics of an undead whale creature that eventually transforms into a giant floating undead whale that uses its entrails as grasping tentacles...

Last Day of 30%-off Lulu Sale

Thought I should remind everyone that today's the last day of the 30% off (coupon code DELIRITAS) LULU sale. I suspect there will be another 30% off around Christmas for those willing to gamble... :-)

Elven Adventurer

Sunday Un-Seriousness

An Unusual Portrait

30% off LULU sale

Thought you all would like to know that Lulu's running a sale on the 23rd-27th with a 30% off coupon code DELIRITAS. Good time to pick up some rpg stuff.

Two-Headed Troll

Advanced Adventure #28: Redtooth Ridge Art Order Out

Just sent off the art order for Advanced Adventure #28: Redtooth Ridge to John and Daisy Bingham. I'm glad that one's done and now, on to the next AA in the queue - AA#29: The Doom of Red Rauthim. After that, AA#30: To End the Rising,and then to AA#31: Aerie of the Cloud Giant Strategos. I'm writing #31 and I don't even have a manuscript for it - but I do have some maps and a general plan of attack. It's supposed to be a continuation to Against the Giants. Gonna be fun!

Busy busy....

(Ever notice how there's just a ridiculous number of vowels in "queue?" I mean, you've got two "ue" in a row for no good reason...  Might as well go with queueueueueueue... now I'm thinking about the lady in Kung Pow)

Cats! Babies! Zombies! Sunday Un-Seriousness

Tome of Tomes

Sign Language of the Longan Tribes
Author: Argar Winfalas
Race: Human
Dimensions: 6x5x1
Weight: 1 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Common
Fields of Study: Humankind
Special Knowledge Categories: Languages
Value: 55 gp

Sign Language is a dense book, packed with over 800 different signs used by the many different tribes on the Longan Plains. This sign language acts as a universal language for over 15 distinct tribes that share little with each other in terms of native tongue. Winfalas also gives a brief account of how he was captured, enslaved, freed, and finally requested to lead the Hinawak tribe.

Today I Am Unwriting and Witch Mounds Cover Preview

I've gotten in some art from John & Daisy Bingham for AA#26: The Witch Mounds and that's pretty much done, AA#27: Bitterroot Briar's art order is out, and now I'm doing a second round of editing AA#28: Redtooth Ridge. As I'm author of Redtooth Ridge, I find a second round of editing helps significantly - mostly by cutting repetitive word count - I tend to be a bit wordy.

So, today I am unwriting.

Here's the cover of The Witch Mounds... enjoy!

Tome of Tomes

The Iraline Herbal
Author: Iraline Wildberry
Race: Half-elf
Dimensions: 16x16x2
Weight: 10 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Common
Fields of Study: Flora
Special Knowledge Categories: Herbs
Value: 25 gp

A work found in every library concerning the plant world, The Iraline Herbal is an ancient work filled with the foundation of today’s modern herbalistic beliefs. The main drawback of the work is the lack of color illustrations, and such as lead to the preference of other herbals over this one.

Formula Folio

Enlarge
For the ink required to scribe an arcane enlarge scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 oz. of giant octopus ink
A pinch of powdered Iron
A hair from a spriggen

In a glass crucible, mix all ingredients and bring to a boil. Distil the fumes into a glass vial. Stopper with a cork and beeswax. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Two New Print Advanced Adventures at LULU

I've just uploaded AA 24: The Mouth of the Shadowvein and AA 25: Beneath the Heart of Empire to Lulu as print products. They're also running a sale today for 20% any order (code VETS2012) so now's not a bad time to grab some 1e gaming goodness.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

This came across by G+ a few days ago. Love it.

Tome of Tomes

Now that all the election hoopla is over, here's a Tome of Tomes for your pleasure...

The Fecund Races
Author: Aleria Featherbow
Race: Elf
Dimensions: 8x8x1
Weight: 4lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, stoneboard, parchment
Rarity: Common
Fields of Study: Humankind, humanoids & giantkind
Special Knowledge Categories: Demography
Value: 35 gp

Featherbow’s analysis of the fecund races (human, orc, goblin, hobgoblin, and kobold) is considered the “go to” work for this type of information. Compiled throughout her long life, the work provides birth/death rates for the various races based upon geographic locations and climate variance. Some have challenged the veracity of the work regarding its analysis of the non-humans, but as of yet there are no other more convincing arguments available.

DIS HAS to change?

So there are rumors that Disney is in the process of negotiating a buy of Hasbro. I'll have to keep my eye out on this.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

Post-Apoc Critter Image

Watch the trees, they're everywhere!

Possible Post-Apoc US SE Map

Here's a cool map showing how the SE U.S. would look at various sea levels.

A French Translation of Advanced Adventures #1

Jeu de Rôle Magazine #19 has a long section about Old-School Gaming, including a French-translated version of Advanced Adventures #1: Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom. Pretty cool!

Happy Pumpkin Day!

The Worldbuilding Monster Statistics

Some people think that there are several statistics in the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual that are not needed to play the game.

To that, I respond, "Yes, they are not needed to play the game, but they serve the purpose of building the world in which the game is played." These are the Worldbuilding Monster Statistics. Statistics such as Frequency, No. Appearing, % in Lair, Treasure Type, Intelligence, Alignment, and Size have primarily a world-building goal. Sure, there are bits and bobs of these statistics that can be interpreted as "game related," but they're primarily there to inform the GM about the world in which the game is played. Changing these statistics changes the game very little, but can drastically change the game world.

And a very interesting thing about rpgs is that, over time, the world around the game eventually *becomes* the game, because rpgs are about "what if" and how we react to different "what ifs."

Stay Safe Everyone

To all my readers in the way of the storm, stay safe and good luck.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

Formula Folio

Detect Magic
For the ink required to scribe an arcane detect magic scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 pulped mugwort
A dram of imp’s blood

In a crystal container, mix the mugwort with the sepia. Seal container with beeswax and let sit for 18 days. Open at sunrise and remove liquid and mix with imp’s blood. Seal container again and let sit for 18 more days before decanting into a glass vial at sunset. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Tome of Tomes

Hieroglyphics
Author: Corad Thindal
Race: Human
Dimensions: 8x10x1
Weight: 2 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Rare
Fields of Study: Humankind
Special Knowledge Categories: Langauges
Value: 165 gp

A work detailing the 1,000 most common hieroglyphs of ancient Kemet, Hieroglyphics is an invaluable resource for those investigating the ruins of that lost time. Using this book, most hieroglyphics can eventually be decoded, although it will take significant time.

20% Off Lulu Coupon

Thought readers would like to know that Lulu has a 20% of coupon up right now with code JEKYLL and a 25% off coupon on orders over $300 with code HYDE.

We have several products up at Lulu and there are many other old-school products there as well.

Formula Folio

Dancing Lights
For the ink required to scribe an arcane dancing lights scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 oz. of giant octopus ink
8 glowworms

Make a mobile, hanging each glowworm equally apart from each other off a silk thread. Mix the two inks. Dip the worms into the mixed ink and shake the mobile, causing the ink to drip down upon a large silver platter. Repeat until all the ink has been used up and rests upon the silver platter. Decant into a glass vial. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Tome of Tomes

Trolls
Author: Kilgar Krum
Race: Human
Dimensions: 8x8x1
Weight: 4lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, stoneboard, parchment
Rarity: Uncommon
Fields of Study: Humanoids & giantkind
Special Knowledge Categories: None
Value: 120 gp

Covering the entire breadth of troll-dom, Trolls was written by Kilgar Krum, a human polymorphed into a troll and only cured after a score of years. Krum writes of his experiences with the trolls, their biology, culture, and beliefs. Reading this work give a potential troll hunter a 1in6 better chance of surprising trolls and adds a +1 to hit and a +1 to damage in combat.

Seeking Manuscripts for 1 on 1 Adventures

Heya all, I'm looking for more manuscripts for our Pathfinder Compatible 1 on 1 Adventures - Adventures designed for one player and one GM. I'm looking for around 12k words. Please e-mail me at josephbrowning@gmail.com if you have ideas or manuscripts. The line has been defunct for a while and I need to get it going again, so please help me out.

Post-Apocalyptic Minis at Indiegogo

Not from us, I doubt if I'll ever do minis, but I think that those who read this blog may be interested nonetheless...

Sunday Un-Seriousness

Saw this in my G+ feed a few days ago and thought I should share... :-)

About 4 Hours Left In The 50% Off Sale

I'll be turning the sale off around 2:00pm eastern time, so if you're looking for discounted XRP PDFs you've only got a few hours left. Drop by the store and load up.

Oh, and I've some other really weird dreams lately as well - slept 12 hour last night. Think I'm fighting off sickness.

20, 20, 24 Hours To Go....

Save Me From Space Pirates 50% Off PDF Sale!

Ok, I had a strange-ass dream last night where I was captured by a bunch of space pirates who held me in the brig and threatened to torture me if I didn't have a PDF sale. Yeah, my mind is strange.

Anyway, I've decided to obey the space pirates and have a PDF sale for the next 48 hours or so. So drop by the pdf store for Expeditious Retreat Press and keep me from the tortures of space pirates.

Formula Folio

Comprehend Languages
For the ink required to scribe an arcane comprehend languages scroll

1 oz. of giant octopus ink
A pinch of soot
A few grains of salt
A bit of a parrot’s tongue
A powdered human tooth

During high noon, coat the parrots tongue with the powdered human tooth. Throw upon the ground and tread upon with a hard-soled leather boot. Throw the salt over the left shoulder and the soot over the right. After this, the ink (if in a silver container) is ready. If in a non-silver container, the ink will not be suitable. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Back to Classified!

Back to working on Classified now that the next Advanced Adventure is just waiting on art. I'll probably work on Classified for a few days and then turn my attention to AA #27. I need to get a backlog of ready-to-print Advanced Adventures ready if I want to release one every month for the first half of next year. I'm still looking for manuscripts, btw.

I've got a list of about 140 or so weapons and vehicles to work my way through on Classified before I start with the more exotic spy/espionage equipment. I'm going to do a brief description of each item to provide some framework for the GM who may not be familiar with the item. The descriptions will be brief, as I expect a GM to look to the net to find anything other than a general overview. Which, IMO, is one of the cool things about the internet - it frees up the need for framework-issues like this.

Advanced Adventures #26: The Witch Mounds

Just finished the lay out of The Witch Mounds and sent the art direction off to John and Daisy Bingham. This OSRIC and First Edition compatible adventure is for 6-10 PCs of levels 3-6 and should come out in January of next year (perhaps earlier in PDF).

Near the southern verge of the Yoros Forest, rests a series of grass-covered barrows arranged in a horseshoe shape. Ten smaller barrows and one known as the Great Mound sit facing inward at each other. The site is known as the Witch Mounds by the locals, and it is shunned, for evil lurks within, a place of old Maerling evil best left alone.

Will you brave the Haug-eldr, the greenish flame seen in the depths of night around The Witch Mounds to explore the dangers and riches that surely lie below?

Sorcery & Super Science Pathfinder Version

The Pathfinder conversion of Sorcery & Super Science! should pick up here shortly once we get in a signed contract from a freelancer. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now (I tend to jump from thing to thing) and I think hiring-out should help make sure this one sees the light of day. It's a big project and I've got a lot of irons in the fire. Just wanted to let everyone know that it's still an ongoing work - one which should hopefully speed up.

The Inverse Dungeon?

David over at the Tower of the Archmage has an interesting post about the relative emptiness of hallways in comparison with rooms in the traditional dungeon. This observation has led me to speculate on how to design an Inverse Dungeon, wherein almost all the encounters take place in the hallways and the rooms are the transit areas from one encounter to another.

I wonder how long it would take a party to key on this fundamental alteration and change their behaviors to adapt?

Tome of Tomes

On the Generation of Clouds
Author: Widdle Thridbit
Race: Human
Dimensions: 8x8x1
Weight: 8 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Uncommon
Fields of Study: Physical universe, supernatural & unusual
Special Knowledge Categories: Meteorology & climatology, metaphysics
Value: 45 gp

On the Generation of Clouds provides a solid physical framework about the different land types and how they collect the moisture in the air, creating cloudy rainy areas as well as deserts. Additionally, Thridbit discusses the generation of magical clouds such as those upon which cloud giants dwell.

Formula Folio

Charm Person
For the ink required to scribe an arcane charm person scroll

1 oz. of giant octopus ink
A tiny pinch of powdered diamond
A dram of kohl

Mix all ingredients in a bowl made from the top of a human skull. Decant into a vial and let sit 24 hours. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Use a quill made from a peacock.

Advanced Adventured #26: The Witch Mounds

Thought I should let people know that I've started laying out AA26: The Witch Mounds by Keith Sloan. I finished the maps earlier today and hope to be done with the layout in a few days. Then, to commission art and print. Looking for a January release.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

[Dr. Zoidberg Voice]Again, with the humor[/Dr. Zoidberg Voice]

I Got Facebook Hacked

I want to let everyone know that I got hacked on Facebook sometime last night and apparently sent out private messages concerning iphones. My apologies to anyone I sent a message too. I've changed my password to something *very* strong and it should hopefully not happen again.

A Big Monotreme Influence on Classified

In best Tom Jone's Thunderball style... :-)

The Goremont Grim

Good news on the Goremont Grim front: I've decided that it will be published, but probably not for at least two to three years. I'm going to do something special for this megadungeon - hopefully something that will be "socks-knock-off" worthy. Yeah, an update without much substance, but I'm just happy to know that it's going to be published.

Empty Rooms are Full of Talkie-Talkie this Week

Pardon the title, but it seem as if empty rooms are the subject du week in the OSR-verse after Joethelawyer's post about his recent experience with Dwimmermount (link to Grognardia's Dwimmermount tag). There's been a lot of talk about the importance of empty rooms in the megadungeon, mostly around two main ideas - space (for exploration, party camping ability, etc.) and weirdness (or fuck-a-diddle's as Stephan Poag termed it). Both, IMO, are spot on observations about the construction of the Megadungeon environment and play-style and I do think they are both necessary.

However, I think the responses I've seen from the OSR community as a whole seem to be focused more on explaining why Joethelawyer had a bad experience based on the assumption that he isn't aware of the empty room megadungeon framework. Which is fine-and-dandy, but perhaps there's a different reason. As a designer, I see something different in his post than a springboard to explain megadungeon design - I see a player's expectations not being matched to the game environment - and I'm not going to try and provide information regarding the different styles, I'm going to try and provide some help on making the different styles mesh together better.

His posts starts off with something that should key the reader in very quick that the Megadungeon environment is probably not a good fit.

Here's the thing--as a player, I want my character to kick some ass, be awesome, and have a tale to tell back at the tavern so he can get some action with the serving wenches.  You know, Conan, or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser style.  That to me is the motivation to play an adventurer.

This, to me, is not the megadungeon style, and certainly not the style of Dwimmermount as I've come to understand it from Grognardia's posts over the years.To me, the root of the issue is in different play style preferences.

Assuming that I've said something of interest, what, as a designer, can be done to try and make Joethelawyer's apparent preference mesh better with a megadungeon environment like Dwimmermount? Below are a few thoughts/responses pulled from comments on his post.

Rooms with stuff that on its surface looks interesting, but in the end is just a needless distraction that doesn't lead to anything cool.  Ever.  Not even once in a while.  There was one room with ghosts around a table.  They gave no clues to greater mysteries,  they provided no combat opportunities, they were nothing but a waste of time

1. Provide a quicker way for players to place fuck-a-diddles into the greater context of the megadungeon. Provide these contexts quicker the closer the room is to the entrance to the dungeon to grab the attention of new players. Leave the majority of context-less fuck-a-diddles for deeper areas, which when encountered are based upon the idea that the player is already "hooked" into the environment and will find contextless aspects less frustrating.

There was a room with half dozen balloons.  No one is stupid enough to go into such a room, so we shot them from outside.  One exploded and caused the others to explode.  Would have done damage had we been in there.  Again, who would be stupid enough to be in there?

2. Provide the opportunity for players to utilize traps against enemies. I don't know if this room could be used in such a manner, but I think the room would be improved were players able to use the trap against lured enemies in some manner.

There was another room where nothing aged.  Why?  Who placed it there?  Why place such a massive investment of magical energy (time stop being a 9th level spell) into a room with not a goddamned thing in it worth anything?  At the end I just wanted to smash everything in the room out of frustration.

3. Another example of contextlessness providing frustration. Perhaps the Dwimmermount notes provide an explanation of the room to the GM, and if it does, providing a way for the *players* to find out the reason would be beneficial. If possible, finding a way for the players to find out that provides a material reward of some sort (treasure, intel) would be even better.

Then, random rooms with stuff in it for no reason.  In one room, in a corner, is a bag with 1000 gp.  Why?  Empty otherwise, except for the orcs we drove off.  Orcs, with 1000 gp.  Exactly 1000 gp.  It's a very exact dungeon.  Another room had debris in it.  After killing the rats in it, we spent 30 minutes looking thru rat shit and found 2000 cp.  Why?  Oh, and there was also some other crap like a pin and a comb worth some money.

4. This touches on one of my design preferences: generally avoid round numbers. Round numbers do not feel organic and the organic feeling is very important during play, IMO. This should be an easy fix and one that, IMO, would benefit even players who prefer the Megadungeon style of play already.

And to finish up this already long post....

Where's the grand tale of adventure in that?  Would it make a good movie?  Would you pay eight bucks to see it on the big screen?  Did we do anything awesome?  Did we encounter weird ass shit and survive by the skin of our teeth, using our wits and courage to overcome the obstacles?  Was there at any point an opportunity or a need to be creative with the stuff in the environment to further our ends?  Was the environment itself creative and mysterious, leaving us a with a sense of awe and wonder?  Did it make us want to explore further?  Did it open up further layers of a mystery?

This highlights where the different play desires don't mesh. Joethelawyer is thinking of the game in terms of a movie. IMO, the Megadungeon environment is not a movie - (at most) megadungeons are thematic tapestries in which various areas can explore different themes and these themes are usually not explored until deeper in the dungeon. Movies are narrative pieces with a purpose - Megadungeons don't have a purpose - they have many different purposes.

Would my suggestions have improved Joethelawyer's experience with Dwimmermount? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Regardless, I think they're useful things to think about when designing for an audience that is not your personal table.

Advanced Adventure Work

I'm going to be stepping away from Classified for a bit to focus on Advanced Adventures. I have some editing and a lot of mapping to do and I need to get the adventures into publishable format. With this in mind, now its a great time to send me manuscripts if you have them. I'm looking for 8k-12k manuscripts using only OGL material (ie anything in OSRIC is ok). I prefer site-based adventures and have no real level preferences, although levels 1-7 do seem to sell better than 8+ level.

I pay $0.01 a word and an author's copy for all rights, so if your work is your baby, don't send it my way. I want to own everything we publish and completely understand those who also want to own their own works as well. EDIT: I should also mention that I pay *upon acceptance* - meaning that the author is paid when I accept the manuscript rather than when the work is published, as it typical in the industry.

After I get some Advanced Adventure work out of the way I'll return to Classified and probably switch back and forth between them until all the AA are ready to go out the door. And because I can... here's a cool illustration by John Bingham. :-)

My Blog's Wordcloud

I'm happy to see that "magical" is the most used. :-)

Classified Water and Air Craft

Finished up the list and now onto brief descriptions. It's taken me a little over two weeks to make the weapons and vehicles lists. I'd hoped to do them a bit faster, but there's a lot of information to digest and translate into game terms.

To compare Classified to the original game, Classified has 177 weapons and vehicles while the original rules had only 34. I consider the long lists big time-savers for GMs and the time I've spent on them well worth it.

More WotC Reprints!

Looks like The Slave Lords and S1-S4 are being reprinted by WotC along with the 2nd Edition core books! I'm pleased to see this happen.

Tree Weaving

Stumbled upon some very cool images at Atlas Obscura that I think would fit right into most fantasy games. Something like the  Gilroy Gardens should make an appearance somewhere. I think geometric shapes, and especially angles that do not occur naturally very often (as in the second picture) would fit into an Elvish art garden.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

What I'm Starting My Day Off With

Great song, great video. Hard to go wrong with Mad Max and Motorhead...

Classified Land Vehicles

Well, that took a good chunk of time. It's funny how you can find out X bit of information here, Y bit over here and Z bit over there. Oh, and A place has different information than B does about X bit. :-)

Anyway... here's the land vehicle list for Classified. I've yet to choose the watercraft and aircraft - that's next on the list.

Upcoming Advanced Adventures

I've got a slew of upcoming Advanced Adventures starting in January of next year. If things go as planned, I'll release a new AA every month until I run out.

Here are the upcoming titles... Note that we have our first 1-3 level adventures in the line coming up.

AA26 The Witch Mounds  (3-6)
AA27 Bitteroot Briar (2-4)
AA28 Redtooth Ridge (1-3)
AA29 The Doom of Red Rauthim (7-9)
AA30 To End The Rising (1-3)
AA31 Aerie of the Cloud Giant Strategos (8-12)

Formula Folio

Burning Hands
For the ink required to scribe an arcane burning hands scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 dram of powdered obsidian
1 oz. of blood from a fire snake
1 oz. of rainwater

In a stone container, mix all ingredients. Bring ingredients to a boil and reduce until only a thick tarry substance remains. Add rainwater and stir widdershins until integrated. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Tome of Tomes

Another magical tome...

The Forge of the Sanctuary
Author: Dunrok Alebelly
Race: Dwarf
Dimensions: 16x16x5
Weight: 25 lbs.
Materials: White dragonskin-bound, woodboard, vellum, brass corners and clasps
Rarity: Very rare
Fields of Study: Supernatural & unusual
Special Knowledge Categories: Dweomercraft
Value: 9,000 gp

The Forge of the Sanctuary gives explicit directions on how to create, fuel, and use a dwarven cold forge. It is unknown what angered Alebelly so much that he would divulge one of his race’s greatest secrets, but a reader with knowledge of smelting and ironwork, and knowledge of dweomercraft can create a cold forge following Alebelly’s directions. The forge costs 10,000 gp to manufacture, requires over a year’s time, and consumes 1,000 gp of gems per month. When tended by 4 trained cold-forge smiths, the forge may produce a +1 weapon every month, a +2 weapon in 4 months, or a +3 weapon in a year. If also tended by a spell caster of at least 12th level (or a dwarven cleric of 8th-level, the forge can produce a +4 weapon after two years of effort.

The Forge of the Sanctuary is a book most hated by dwarves, and the possession of such can lead to bloodshed or even war. Conversely, a gift of the work to a dwarven clan is sure to bring rejoicing and even friendship from the normally insular people.

Britain's Royal Navy in the First World War

Came across this Animated Map this morning and wanted to share. It's a great visualization of WWI. I'd love to see a color-coded one done of WWII.

The Weapons of Classified

Here's a pic of the weapons I've included in Classified. This has taken 3 days of effort - unsurprisingly, it's not easy to find out information on some of these (price in particular) and as I'm trying to price as if a non-governmental organization was purchasing, things are even more complicated. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the results and now I have to move onward to vehicles.

Sunday Un-Seriousness (wth? edition)

The Best of Bond...James Bond

Just bought The Best of Bond...James Bond cd and am greatly enjoying it. 23 songs from Bond movies up to the new Casino Royal. I'm finding it very inspirational. Goldfinger is best, IMO, but Thunderball, A View to a Kill, and Goldeneye are up there near the top.

Also, if you're at Netflix streaming user, it looks like many of the Bond movies are returning to streaming come the beginning of next month.

Tome of Tomes

One of the magical books in the series...

The Black Book
Author: Unknown
Race: Human (presumably)
Dimensions: 16x4x1
Weight: 3 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Very rare
Fields of Study: Supernatural & unusual
Special Knowledge Categories: Dweomercraft
Value: 4,000 gp

The Black Book is desired by many with foulness in their hearts. Those of at least an Intelligence of 14 who spend two months reading and studying the tome learn to animate dead as if they were a 20th-level cleric with the animate dead spell. The animation of these dead requires a ritual performable only during the depths of a moonless night. Each animation deals 1 point of cumulative hit point damage curable only through an atonement spell. Those killed by The Black Book rise as wights.

Formula Folio

Affect Normal Fires
For the ink required to scribe an arcane affect normal fires scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 dram of powdered obsidian
1 oz. of ashes from a cooking fire

In a metal container, mix all ingredients. Bring to a quick boil and decant into a glass vial. Let fire cool and turn cold, place glass vial in center of fire and let sit for 3 days. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

10 Pistols for Classified

After several hours of consideration, I've decided on the following 10 pistols to include in the Classified core book (always leaving in the possibility of a weapon/gadget book/series).

Beretta .25

Beretta M9

Browning Hi-Power

FN Five-seven

Glock 19

Heckler & Koch P30

SIG Sauer P229

Smith & Wesson Model 500

Walther PPK

Walther PPS

I think this group nicely covers much of what would be desired in a modern Classified game with players who aren't that concerned with having multiple specific options regarding weaponry. The PPK is out-of-date with many of the other weapons on the list, but I believe I *have* to include it - it's too iconic not to include, IMO.

Now, on to rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns...

Classified page 51 done!

Just a quick update, I've finished chapters 1-9 of Classified and am about to start on the equipment. I expect to slow down here as I'm going to be updating the equipment list to include new guns, cars, boats, and planes (as well as including some of those in the original game). I suspect this section will take a while as there's more decision-making going on.

After that I've got the GM help sections including NPC information like sample NPCs and other such. Then a character sheet needs to be made and a few locations frameworked. Finally, I'll need to put the Mission: The Bucharest Libretto together.

All that's going to take a while and I fear my speedy progress so far won't be repeated in the next phase of work.

Time in "The Zone"

I spend much of my time being creative in some form or fashion, either work related or otherwise. I've noticed that I tend to do my best work when I work intensively for about 30 minutes and then take a 5 to 10 minute break. It feels sort of like flushing the stress tubes, as when I concentrate I tend to tighten my neck and shoulders and upper body. These little breaks help me relax a bit before heading back to work.

Finding my natural working rhythm has been a nice side-effect of being self-employed. Were I to return to "real" employment, I know I'd find the two-hour-then-break of my past jobs difficult to adapt to. I think I'd end up phoning-it-in more than I should because of the disparities between my natural rhythm and the work-place rhythm.

Tome of Tomes

For your Monday edification...

Bushes & Shrubs of the Low Mountains
Author: Saia Zoides
Race: Human
Dimensions: 16x16x2
Weight: 10 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Common
Fields of Study: Flora
Special Knowledge Categories: Bushes & shrubs
Value: 50 gp

The companion work to Bushes & Shrubs of the High Mountains, Low Mountains focuses upon the changing plant diversity found in the transition zone of the low mountains. Like its companion, it is a work of little depth, and instead explores the wide and varied breadth of foliage. It is also rightly considered a standard in its area.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

I just realized I've missed something like five months of Sunday Un-Seriousness. That can't stand. I must post a weekly nonsense to keep sane.

Trap Streets

Since I imagine most readers are interested in cartography, I thought I should share one of the cool things I learned about map making a few years ago: trap streets.

Although they may sound like streets right out of one of our rpgs of choice, they're really fake streets put on modern maps by mapping companies in attempts to protect the copyrights of their maps.

When you're at the wiki page, you should check out the See Also links... all cool stuff.

I'd Rather Not Be Working

Today is one of those gloomy lazy days when one wants to stay in bed and eat carb-o-riffic foods. But alas, I am self-employed, so although I'd rather not be working, I do like to eat, so...

I should finish the Chase section of Classified today if things go as planned. I'll be up to page 45 on the game then.

Formula Folio

Another from the Fomula Folio...

Speak With Animals
For the ink required to scribe a druidical speak with animals scroll

1 oz. of giant squid sepia
1 oz. of giant octopus ink
1 oz. of holly berry juice
1 oz. of blood from a bull’s tongue

In a bronze bowl, mix all ingredients and store within an animal bladder. Bury the bladder in the ground in a wooden contain and let sit for 1 year. Makes enough ink for 4 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

37 Pages of Classified Done

Just put the finishing touches on page 37 of Classified and the Combat section is now done! Next up is Chases. Seven of the Twelve chapters are finished and I'd estimate I'm about 40% done in terms of word count. I'm starting to think about cover design for Classified and I have two ideas I need to play around with to see how they look.

Thanks to a mention by reader Spawn of Endra, I've been listening a lot to SomaFM. The three channels I've been listening to most are Secret Agent, Underground 80's, and Illinois Street Lounge. There are other channels I'm sure I'll take a listen to in time, but that's where I've been hanging out most recently. Enjoying hearing music I've never heard before (of haven't heard in a very long time).

Reprinting 1e AD&D Unearthed Arcana

Amazon has a listing for 1st Edition Premium Unearthed Arcana (D&D Accessory) [Hardcover] and I think that means that the re-prints of the first 3 1e AD&D volumes was a success. I'm also assuming that some of the profits from this reprint will be going to the Gygax Memorial Fund. Hopefully, they'll end up reprinting all of what Gygax penned (off the top of my head -MM II, the modules, Greyhawk folio/boxed set) and we'll have new copies of the all.

Nice news to wake up to this morning, methinks! February 19, 2013 will be here shortly...

Formula Folio

Let's have another ink recipe from the Formula Folio. For new readers, this series provides the ink recipe needed to inscribe scrolls with the indicated spell. If you like, just click on the Formula Folio link to the right and there's about two dozen more.

Shillelagh
For the ink required to scribe a druidical shillelagh scroll

1 oz. of giant octopus ink
1 oz. of holly berry juice
10 shamrock leaves
Oaken mortar and pestle

In the mortar and pestle, grind the shamrock leaves down into a paste. Mix ink and juice in an oaken container and seal with beeswax. Smear shamrock paste over container and place in a hole in an oak tree. Let rest for 7 days. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Use a quill made from a rooster.

Tome of Tomes

Musical Notation
Author: Skanz Stanz
Race: Human
Dimensions: 14x12x2.5
Weight: 7 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Very rare
Fields of Study: Humankind, demi-humankind
Special Knowledge Categories: Art & music
Value: 425 gp

This work describes the multitude of different musical notations used by over thirty different human cultures and 4 demi-human cultures.  By some unknown artifice, the tome is enchanted to sound the musical notes within, perfectly translating the written to the aural.

Spy Music

Just purchased the album this song comes from, Tell No One. I'm really enjoying the album. Sarah Tracey has a great voice and writes good songs. I've a few more albums in my wishlist that are spy-oriented. Always a good idea to have music to help you create. If you like this song, you'll like the rest of the album, IMO, so go pick it up.

A Solar Eclipse... on Mars!

Ok, so it's really a solar transit, but still... this is just awesome. :)

Mechanical Musings on Classified

IMO, one of the genius moves in the James Bond game is that actions are declared by the slowest character, than the next slowest, and finally the fastest declares last. This way the fastest has best information when deciding what to do

Couple that with the fact that the fastest goes first once the round begins... and that's one of the reasons why Classified is going to exist. :-)

Great design, IMO. Especially when the players get an idea of just how quickly combat can go against them... Be quick or be dead!

I'm a Twit

So, I've decided to try and be more active on Twitter. I'm Joseph_Browning there. I'm still not terribly comfortable with the art of short messaging and need to work out how best to get Twitter to work for me because I don't seem to have much going through my feed, but I know there's a lot going on. So if anyone would like to follow me, I'd appreciate it.

I think I should use Twitter to do brief little updates like "Just finished X section of Y game." or "Alright, poop time" Ok, not the latter. :-)  I'll have to figure it out.

28 Pages of Classified Done

Holy Carp, Fishman! I've already completed 28 pages on Classified. I've got the introduction, character creation, skills, reputation, hero points, and experience sections done. Next up is combat, chase, dealing with NPCs, and then equipment.

Happiness all around... :-)

Tome of Tomes

After the Blade
Author: Yemo Umijaz
Race: Stone giant
Dimensions: 6x5x1
Weight: 1 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Very rare
Fields of Study: Humanoids & giantkind
Special Knowledge Categories: Theology & myth
Value: 125 gp

After the Blade discusses the various theological and mythological afterlife beliefs of the various giants. Written in the stone giant language (and in rather poor grammar at that), it is an exceedingly rare work offering unique insights into the thoughts and beliefs of giantkind.

Classified Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

One thing that I'm doing as I go through Classified is making changes where I think appropriate to update the system to better reflect the modern period as opposed to the 1980's. For example, Photography is no longer an Ability as the digital revolution has, IMO, enabled everyone to be a passable-enough photographer without the need of specialized training.

In its place, I'm allowing the player to choose one Skill from a subset list of Skills and turn that into an Ability of choice. This provides a bit of customization to the player and can help create a good group dynamic where individual characters start with a rather high chance of success on one particularly chosen Skill.

Additionally, I'm adding Language as a Skill as I think the source material focuses very heavy on one particular style of spy/covert action movies wherein the protagonist never had language issues because of narrative construction. I think a more broad-based game should include languages (as does the real world, after all) and a beginning character starts with his or her Native Language as an Ability. Of course, the character could pick Language as their Skill choice for their pickable Ability and start the game with true fluency in two languages.

Both of these changes, IMO, improve the game and I hope that fans of the system are not disappointed by the changes. I suspect I'll have to make a few other such changes as I go along, but I'll never do anything that renders Classified incompatible with its source material and supplements. Time has just moved on.

And because the song's on my mind now...

Classified Update

I'm about halfway through the Skills chapter. I'm concurrently laying-out the book as I work and I have about 19 pages done. It's coming together nicely and I'll need to start looking for artists in a few weeks, I suppose.

And The New Retro-Clone Is...

Classified. It is a retro-clone of the James Bond 007 game. I've made a few changes (and will have to update much of the equipment to the modern-day), but it'll be eminently compatible with the old adventures and supplements. I've loved this game ever since it came out. It runs like a finely-tuned machine during play and does a great job of genre emulation. If you have not played it, it really plays like a dream.

I'm opening up the system a bit to include all sorts of covert operations, not just the super-spy genre. I think there are a lot of different things that the system works well for, and I'll be trying to make sure that it covers different takes on the subject.

I've been working quickly on this and hopefully it will see the light of day soon. I'm on the Skills section and only expect to slow down when I come to the equipment section. That could be a major slowdown area, so we'll have to see.

I've also started plotting out the first adventure, tentatively titled The Bucharest Libretto.

In 1787, right before the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1892, Antonio Salieri visited Bucharest. During his visit he composed the opera L'esaltato (The Exalted) celebrating the proud spirit of the Russians and Austrians. For the only time in his career, Salieri also wrote the libretto while residing in his hotel in Bucharest. Returning to Vienna a few months later, he put the finishing touches on L'esaltato and it was performed to moderate success. During WWII, the original hand-written copy of the libretto was “liberated” by the Soviets to Bucharest and it has remained there ever since.

The original copy of the Libretto has recently been stolen and the Austrians are very interested in returning the work of Salieri to the city that was his home, Vienna.

Secret Agent Man

Always loved this song...

New Blog Logo

To get in the spirit... :-)

A New Retro-Clone?

So what I've been working on the past few days is a new retro-clone. I'm not prepared yet to say of what, but I've been blazing away and have 12 pages done and laid out. I've never done a retro-clone before and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm working crazy-fast and I may even have the first draft done by the end of the month.

So wish me luck and hopefully I'll feel comfortable announcing the new clone shortly. It's for a game that hopefully many of us loved and is now out-of-print for more than 20 years with no foreseeable chance of it returning to print.

It's 4:00 am on Sunday and I'm Awake

Yay!?! Thanks to a particularly vivid nightmare, I'm completely awake. Time to make the donuts, I guess.

Tome of Tomes

Another Tome of Tomes...

The Rivers of Industhan
Author: Drua Bhadakar
Race: Human
Dimensions: 16x16x2
Weight: 10 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Uncommon
Fields of Study: Physical universe
Special Knowledge Categories: Topography & cartography
Value: 350 gp

A beautifully illustrated work following the course of the major rivers of Industhan, Bhadakar’s work is a requirement for any interested in that distant land. Written in Industhani, it is largely incomprehensible for the majority, but its maps are a great treasure.

To Many Irons In The Fire

So, like I mentioned in the last post, I've started working on something new that's consuming all my time right now. Which is not the best decision, actually, since I've got about 5 Advanced Adventures to edit and product, a new game (Worlds Apart) that I should be producing supplements for, an older game (Sorcery & Super Science) that I should be producing another supplement for (The Bean Lords of Bad Axe), and quick-and-dirty game (One Shot) that I should be producing a new adventure for because they're short and fun to write, and a new book in our original series A Magical Society: India.

But what am I doing? Following my muse instead of my brain. I do that a lot unfortunately, because you don't make a lot of money in the game industry and doing what you really want to do is one of the big perks. Were any of the things I was putting off serious money-makers, I'd bite the bullet and get them done first. But seeing as how most things are relatively comparable in terms of income production, might as well do the thing that you're most interested in doing right now.

Eventually I'll tire of the the new thing, and get a bug up my butt for Advanced Adventures and then knock out all 5 ASAP, or start jonesing to work on a few more Worlds Apart Island Gazetteers, or even keep reading and jotting notes for A Magical Society: India. India's the big one. It will probably make the most money out of all of them, but it's also far-and-away the hardest to write. Magical Society books are supposed to kick all sorts of ass, and making that occur takes a lot of effort and actual scholarship rather than just creativity.

All in all, not a bad job to have. :-)

...and just because I can....

And the Front Cover As Well

Might as well put up the front cover as well. I think these two pieces have a great feel to them and work very well together to convey the module. They set a good tone.

Another Mullen Piece

The below illustration is from the back cover of The Conqueror Worm. It's a high-level adventure and things aren't looking the best for the intrepid group of adventurers. Perhaps they should have thought twice before entering a giant iceberg castle?

I've decided upon another new project and I'm about 6 pages in or so, but not yet quite ready to say what I'm doing. Hopefully in a month or so I'll be ready to announce, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while and finally decided it needed doing.

Head Down and Working At Full Speed

I'm working like a fiend on a new project (up at 4:30 am because I couldn't go back to sleep thinking about it), so I though I'd share the front cover illustration to Advanced Adventures #15: Stonesky Delve. I really like Stonesky Delve and think it one of the best adventures in the AA line. Of course, I'm biased because I wrote it, but I think the verticality of the cave system is something that isn't found in most OSR adventures and really adds a new experience into old-school gaming.

I love Peter's illustration here, especially the use of color to pick up on the shading of the Gamboge Hulk's muscle. I always caption this one, "Sometimes, you wish you would have just stayed on the surface..." or, more humorously, "Mmfl! Where has that hand been!?"

I'll Send Out The Free PDFs Today

Thanks to everyone for the surprising response to the free AA PDF offer! I'll be sending out the PDFs today. If you don't get your copy by Thursday, please respond in this thread and let me know that I made a mistake and missed your message. I'll correct any errors as soon as I can.

ORBIS - Travel Times in the Roman Empire

Okay, so this is just about the coolest thing since sliced bread. ORBIS!

ORBIS allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity. Taking account of seasonal variation and accommodating a wide range of modes and means of transport, ORBIS reveals the true shape of the Roman world and provides a unique resource for our understanding of premodern history.

If that doesn't get your History Nerd (tm) blood a'flowing, you've secretly been replaced by a zombie.

Now You Can Like Me, You Can Really Like Me

So it turns out that I'm one of the lucky bloggers who's check box to insert the like functions from G+, Facebook, and Twitter simply didn't work. After hunting down a fix, I had the enjoyable duty of editing my blog's Template HTML directly, which for an absolute non-programmer is [insert scary music]not a fun thing to do.[/end scary music]

But anyway, the fix apparently worked and all of you guys can like me (and my posts) at the various social medias.

Tome of Tomes

For all the new followers, Tome of Tomes is a series of books that are suitable for a fantasy library. Most of them are non-magical, but are valuable nonetheless.

Codes of the Trees
Author: Roald Dwinar
Race: Human
Dimensions: 8x8x1
Weight: 8 lbs.
Materials: Leather-bound, woodboard, parchment
Rarity: Common
Fields of Study: Supernatural & unusual
Special Knowledge Categories: Cryptography
Value: 45 gp

Years of lumberjacking, tracking, and eventual stewardship of Bifar Forest for The White Duke Calary of Willmote was the genesis for Dwinar’s Codes of the Trees. Within this work are all the known codes, symbols, and signs common among forest folk, including many of the fae races. It is a definite must when searching within the trees for a particular location.

Free Advanced Adventure Reminder

Just wanted to remind blog followers/subscribers that I'll be e-mailing out free PDF versions of an Advanced Adventure of your choice. Go to this post to learn more.

And thanks to Tenkar's Tavern for the Worlds Apart mention. I'm appreciative of anyone that helps me get the world out about the new games. Thanks!

Worlds Apart PDFs now For Sale!

I am stoked! Just finished uploading the 6 PDFs to rpgnow.com. We've got the Core Rules for $12, the free Core Rules sans illustrations, 3 island gazetteers (Awmrie, Deave, Gryce) for $2 each, and Suppliers-a list of pre-generated cargoes to keep the game moving swiftly when the PC decide to engage in a bit of unexpected trade for $3.

Thank to everyone for their patience and I hope you all check out the game! After the "losing the cover" fiasco, I created the below cover to get back to the real roots of the game. It's clear, direct, and I prefer it to the prior versions. I love the excitement I get when putting out something new, after 9 years it's still not gotten old... :-)

By Zeus, It's Done!

A voyager ship sails upon the Forever Sea...