Land of Phantoms

I could go into the whys and wherefores of how all this came about. But the summary is... A long while back, I worked with an awesome group of guys led by Brian Isikoff that included Mark Humphreys and Mike Holmes. We were all working on a second edition of the role-playing game Hero Quest, which eventually would be handed off to Robin Laws. I was working on genre chapters, some examples of play and actively involved in some of the mechanics discussions back then. After the publisher shifted over to Robin, Mark Humphreys took over the project and took it all the way to completion. It recently came to my attention that the project was published as  Other Worlds . The two genres that I'd worked on that were adapted into the book are the Horror and Pirates genres. While my text has been heavily edited, there's still some stuff in there that I put my John Hancock to. First off, kudos to Mark on doing such a great job. The book looks fantastic and he should be really proud...

It can't get any more official. So here's the scoop.  Doug Kovacs  is doing the cover for Transylvanian Adventures  and, if I have any say in it, he'll be doing the covers for the other two books as well. Even if I have to go rescue him from a clan of rabid ninjitsu monkeys. Or UNDEAD, rabid ninjitsu monkeys. Suffice to say, I'd save him from kobolds. He's awesome and I am humbled and deeply thankful to have him on the team. Now here's a sketch Doug sent of the cover. It's brilliant. Thank you, Doug.

For those who've been following Transylvanian Adventures, it is probably no surprise that this haphazardly updated blog has been hand-in-hand with the TATG forum over on the  Goodman Games website . About a week ago, I posted that I'd show a glimpse at the TATG character sheet when that forum logged its 20,000th view. Much to my amazement, it eclipsed the 20K mark in no time. So here is the TATG character sheet, filled out with the details of one of the playtest characters -- H. Meneleus Collins, Esquire -- an 8th level Polymath played by Tony Hogard. Enjoy! And thanks again for all your support and interest in  Transylvanian Adventures. The first book is almost to layout.

Going Back to Where It All Began A short while ago, I put together a high-level play test of Transylvanian Adventures using the module that started it all. You've probably guessed it already but it was the original adventure for the World's Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Rhymes with Hassle Gravencroft . What I Learned I learned many things about both old-school modules and the game supplement I'd been putting together. Maybe I'll share my old-school observations at some point in the future. But in the interest of brevity, I'd like to stick to what I'd learned about Transylvanian Adventures . High-level adventuring in Transylvanian Adventures is nothing like high-level adventuring in DCC Especially at this point in time. Spells and magic aren't the same. They're similar. But very different. Giles (from Buffy ) is different from Gandalf who, himself, is different from the typical 10th level DCC Wizard. Even though all three of thos...

Status Update It was recently brought to my attention over on the Goodman Games' forums  that I hadn't updated the blog in 3 MONTHS. Oh wow. Sorry about that. I've been busy trying to finish up the first book. The past few months have seen some significant changes to the manuscript. These include: A rewrite of the Sample Adventure that adds more decision paths A rewrite of the way some of the sample spells work A rewrite of the Fear mechanics An update of the DCs listed in the book to rectify some of the issues I'd observed in playtesting An overhaul of the character sheet A rewrite of the Character Classes chapter (marking the third and fourth revisions of that chapter) At the moment, this is where the first book stands. Transylvanian Adventures (Book 1) I: Introduction (Ready for Layout) Players and Judges II: Rule Enhancements (Ready for Layout) III: 0-Level Adventurers (Ready for Layout) IV: Character Classes (Needs one more proofread) V: ...

And for all your patience and support, as well as a nod to this fairly awesome holiday and my return to the Land of Phantoms, here's an entry from the upcoming Volume 2. It's a preview of a monster in TA/TG. A new, yet familiar, take on an old standby -- The Demon! Demon Init +3; Atk necrotic scratches +8 melee (1d3 + 1 Sta; Fort save vs. DC 13 or permanent) or poltergeist activity; AC 17; HD 5d8; HP 25; MV fly 60’; Act 1d20; SP cold spot (if detected), manifestation, incorporeal, immune to non-magical weapons, possession, undead; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6; AL C. Demons are malevolent, incorporeal spirits that embody the darkest and most evil demimondes of human existence. Unlike Demons in the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game , a Demon in Transylvanian Adventures starts out as a spirit entity. The initial goal of these demonic spirits is to possess and inhabit a mortal body to enact their will in the material realm. The act of possessing a mortal form creates a ...

I'm baaa-aaaaack. First off, I apologize for the hiatus. I've had a lot going on in life and time to work on TA/TG was unavailable to me. Things have been corrected now (or so I think) and I should have a little bit more time on my hands. That said, the idea at this point is to split TA/TG into 3 books. The reasoning for this is that I can release the first book much sooner. It will still be a decent-sized book (easily over 100 pages, possibly over 200). But the rest of the "first book" that I'm working on appears to also be in the 200 page range. So rather than release 2 books (with a delay of 3+ months on the first release) with one book in the 500 page range, I'm planning to release 3 books. The difference between pricing a 500 page book and a 150-200 page book is sizable. So this will allow me to keep the cost down, which is important to me. The first book will be a sort of "Player's Handbook". It will contain all the classes (except th...