Land of Phantoms

I'll begin this post with a quote that is so good it deserved to lead off the post... The rules shouldn't be the game -- playing the game should be the game. (Ben Lathrop)  Ben's comment  to my last post  was well said. It resonated with a couple of questions that have come up over the past few weeks: Why are there so many tables in Transylvanian Adventures? 100 pages??? Why Ruin? It may not be clear at first. But the answer to both of those questions is Ben's quote right up there. Playing the game should be the game. Why So Many Tables? I thought there was a good chance that Transylvanian Adventures  would fail to find an audience. There was a possibility that this would be the only book. Ever. That sobering realization forced my hand to put the items that I felt were necessary to play these types of games (Gothic Ass-Kicking Horror) into the first (and possibly only) book. Some of the best playtests we had were from the In-Between Adven...

The print-on-demand version of Transylvanian Adventures  is now available. Sorry for the long wait. Those who purchased a PDF copy have been sent a coupon directing them to a $14.99 discount. This means that, for a limited time, they can purchase the hardcover for $20 + shipping. There is a Print + PDF bundle version available on RPGNow. I will continue to offer free PDFs for those who purchase the hardcover through Lulu. Of the two printings, I prefer the Lulu hardcover. But it is nice to have options for sure. Thanks to everyone for the continued support.

When I first began writing Transylvanian Adventures , it was at an awkward nexus of playing the fourth edition of the World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game and, by comparison, my favorite edition(s) of said game -- Basic, OD&D, AD&D -- as well as numerous independent games I'd played the decade plus prior to the Fourth's release. It didn't take a statistician to gauge where some things had gone right and other things had gone wrong. And still more things had been kicked off the boat needlessly, even thoughtlessly. Most of my musings circled, like a hungry vulture, over the topic of Character Mortality. It's Important To Be Able To Die One of the recent trends I've noticed is the exclusion of one of the key NPCs in a roleplaying game: the Angel of Death. I've read many roleplaying games where death is eliminated from the game altogether. Here is what I found. Removal of the threat of death did not lead to more risk-taking among players. It d...

2013 in Review First off, thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of Transylvanian Adventures . My hope was to create a game that would become a new way of roleplaying in the Victorian/Gothic Horror era -- a way that relied heavily on emergent play, the familiarity of OSR gaming, and the foundation established by DCC RPG. Time will tell if I have hit that mark or not. Transylvanian Adventures has done well. I'm projecting breaking even on the project by the end of March. Breaking even means I've paid myself back for the art and other expenses I've incurred specifically in putting the book together. These expenses do not include the time I spent writing it or that Jenn spent laying it out. So it's a very lean "break even". At the beginning, I'd hoped to break even on the book. I wasn't at all sure that would be possible. As a stretch goal I'd hoped to make enough money to bring on another writer and buy even more art for the second and ...

My bad on the RPGNow/DriveThruRPG hardcover not being available. It's still awaiting review. I've tried contacting them twice thus far with no response. I'm thinking holidays are impacting response/review time. If anyone grabs a hardcover copy via Lulu, email me your preferred RPGNow/DriveThruRPG email address, the date of your order through Lulu, and your order number and I'll send you a coupon for a free PDF through RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. I should have an update after the new year that will detail what's coming for Transylvanian Adventures  in 2014. It's going to be an exciting year.

Print editions of Transylvanian Adventures  are now available. The softcover edition  is $19.99 and is only available through Lulu.com. There is a  hardcover edition available  for $34.99 through Lulu as well. There is also a hardcover version that will be available through  RPGNow  and  DriveThruRPG  after they complete their review process. The Print+PDF bundle can be purchased at either of those links. Those who have bought the PDF and have allowed publishers to send them promotions through email will receive a discount coupon for the RPGNow/DriveThruRPG hardcover in their inbox. If you bought the PDF and don't have that set up, now's a good time to do that to get that discount. You could turn it on tonight or tomorrow and then turn it off after you get the TA discount email. It's also worth noting that Lulu is running a holiday sale for 10% off (up to 30% if you purchase over $80). They periodically run specials for free shipping to...

Following up on Alex Lucard's  review of Transylvanian Adventures , I'd like to say, first, thanks. I'm grateful for everyone who is spreading the word and getting information out there on TA. I'm not Hasbro. I'm not Fantasy Flight. I'm not even Frog God Games. So the only thing that's going to keep the undead heart of this game beating are those who appreciate it and have a passion for it. That said, I'd like to clear up a couple of things in the review. Transylvanian Adventures  contains an insane (and insanely deceptive) amount of information. I tried my best to convey it all as clearly as possible. But I'm afraid that sometimes I zigged when I should have zagged. If I may, I'd like to clarify some points and answer some questions raised in Lucard's review. 1. Core character classes are interesting, but I wouldn’t say balanced. Depending on your alignment, a class may get more or less abilities. For example, only a Chaotic Exotic...