A New Year's On The Way...

The numbers are in and I'm pleased to say that I've lost 31.35 lbs. in 2017 and exercised 122 times. I started in Jan of 2016 and am now down a total of 68 lbs. Several more years of this to go before I hit my target weight, but it now seems like an inevitability, rather than something that requires difficult and constant striving. Here's hope to all who make a New Year's Resolution to lose weight and get healthier succeed! It sure isn't easy.

On a professional note, I'm working through Arden Vul editing and my excitement with the project continues unabated. I've an Advanced Adventures manuscript or two that I should also be editing and one that I'm writing, both of which will see more attention next month. And long-term, I'm still slowly (oh so slowly) chugging away on Sorcery and Super Science! 2 using the ICONS system.

But now, back to editing, and the music of choice is the wonderful Diablo I soundtrack, released a little more than 20 years ago. (FRESH MEAT!!!!) :-)

The Halls of Arden Vul

I'm sure not everyone knows that I've been working on a mega-dungeon for the past 6 or so years. It's called the Hall of Arden Vul, authored by Richard Barton with cartography by Andreas Claren. I've done the 1st pass edit, and am about to start the second pass edit. The manuscript is more than 800,000 words. Yes, that's right, the current PDF of it is 1,200 pages. It is truly magnificent, and IMO, nothing like it has ever come before or will come again. A monumental work. Here's the table of contents at the moment... (sans the new items - more than 300, and new monsters - more than 140).

Overview and Timeline p. 1
Exterior: the Long Falls and the Long Stair p. 5
The Ruined City of Arden Vul p. 11
The Pyramid of Thoth p. 39
The Tower of Scrutiny p. 45
Halls of Arden Vul - the Dungeon Levels
Level 1: the Basement p. 50
Level 2: the Howling Caves and the Well of Light p. 57
Level 3: the Halls of Thoth (3-1 to 3-70) p. 94
Level 4: the Forum of Set p. 193
Level 5: the Obsidian Gates, the Midnight Road, and the Sanctum p. 278
Level 6: the Troll Lifts and the Arena p. 350
Level 7: the Court of the Troll Thegn p. 431
Level 8: The Nether Reaches p. 506
Level 9: The Floor of the Great Chasm p. 575
Level 10: The Ziggurat of Kauket p. 641
Sub-Level 1: the Tombs of Light p. 669
Sub-Level 2: the Hall of Shrines p. 676
Sub-Level 3: Lesser Baboon Caves p. 691
Sub-Level 4: the Goblin Warrens p. 702
Sub-Level 5: the Lizardman caves p. 732
Sub-Level 6: the Drowned Canyon p. 749
Sub-Level 7: the Flooded Vaults p. 794
Sub-Level 8: the Caves Behind the Falls p. 809
Sub-Level 9: the Kaliyani Pits p. 816
Sub-Level 10: the Domain of the Sun-Scarred Knights p. 845
Sub-Level 11: the Tomb of Isadora p. 870
Sub-Level 12: the Workshops of Kerbog Khan p. 881
Sub-Level 13: the Lost Chambers of Arden p. 895
Sub-Level 14: the Chamber of the Beacon p. 918
Sub-Level 15: the Druid’s Retreat p. 925

And here's one of Andreas's maps. It's for Level 4. AV is just beautiful. A true beast of a dungeon.

Merry Ho Ho!

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than 2 and a half pages of stat block editing! I've hit that part of The Halls of Arden Vul and now my friends at Devo are helping me though the important, but rather mind-numbing, part of putting out a megadungeon.

The Bee Gees and the Post-Apocalypse

I wrote much of Sorcery & Super Science! to the dulcet tunes of the Bee Gees, so now when I hear them I think of crazy post-apoc madness. Which, come to think of it, isn't really that different than the late 70's. :-)