Basic Psionics Handbook Introductory Pricing + Updates to the NBD Catalog

By now, most of you know the Basic Psionics Handbook is available in PDF. I'm waiting on my print proof copies from Lulu.com, and pricing from my local printer for direct sales costs, but should have the print copies available within the next couple of weeks. Once the print copies are available, the PDF version will go it's normal price of $7.95, but you can still get it now for $5.99.

I've also made some additional updates to the NBD Catalog at RPGNow...

The 2014 Three Castles Award winning Valley of the Five Fires is on sale for $3 (marked down from it's normal price of $5.95). When the price of the Basic Psionics Handbook goes back to normal, so will Valley of the Five Fires. I personally think mongolian-inspired setting would make a nice backdrop for a psionics campaign using mystics and monks.

The Dragon Horde zines are now completely free (issue #1 used to be PWYW, and issue #2 was sold for $3). These are their new permanent "prices." And if I ever get around to doing some additional issues, future zine issues in PDF will always be free.

The Jahnu Prophecy...

What follows is the background information for the mid-level BX psionics playtest I ran this past Friday, and plan to run (probably in 2 parts) at the 2016 NTRPGCon. The youree noted below are the same ones that appear in the Creature Compendium. You'll notice that the mockup image here is designated as P3. My goal is to have it be the 3rd in a series of BX/LL psionics modules. P1 would be an expanded version of "The Auroral Alcazar or Aethaungor" (which will include a psionic boss monster), and P2 would be a dungeon crawl through a ruined temple dedicated to Xumaltet (the the petty god of primal emotions and savage urges who appears in the expanded version of Petty Gods).

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Among the great psionic races of the multiverse (the mind threshers, limbo giths, astral giths, zlaahd, et al.), the youree have mostly been relegated to the status of legend, thought to have been wiped to extinction (by the mind threshers) millennia ago. In truth, the youree retreated from their home plane to "hide" in the small corner of the Material Plane known as the Valley of the Trees. The youree, as a people, seek to live a life of contemplation and meditation and avoid the entanglements of war. They saw this exodus as the only possibility for preserving themselves as a race.

Settling in the Valley of the Trees, the youree erected themselves a home in a place called Shub z'Dha (a youree word for "home away from home")—a temple-like structure that also housed a planar gate (built around a natural rip in planar space) that would allow the youree easy access to various places around the planes. Over time, however, they realized the same gate that would allow them egress might allow others entrance, and that the extraplanar energy emanating from the gate might draw unwanted attention. For safety, the youree “locked” the gate, and hid the gate ’s keystone in a remote cavern deep below the surface, where its natural psionic energies would be naturally muted. Destroying the gate was not an option, for it would only loose the rip and release untold energies, revealing the rip's presence. Anyone would then be able to harness the rip, should they possess the knowledge required to erect a new gate.

The youree moved far to the north, erecting a hidden tower known as "The Crystal Pagoda" by outsiders (those chosen few who came to study with the youree). The youree have no name for the structure. The pagoda is located in a dome constructed under a mountain and protected by a field of synaptic static (which keeps psionic abilities from passing through, whether in or out).

Recently, it has been reported (by non-youree visitors to the Crystal Pagoda) that a small party of limbo giths was seen exploring the ruins of Shub z'Dha. Since the synaptic field keeps youree clairsentients from being able to observe the ruins themselves, the youree wish for this report to be physically investigated. They fear that the gate will be discovered, but as a race the youree must take every precaution to ensure that their presence remains unknown to would-be conquerors. They fear the fulfillment of "The Jahnu Prophecy"—a vision revealed hundreds of years prior to a youree guru named Jahnu which foretold the annihilation of the youree should any of their number ever return to Shub z'Dha. It is for these reasons the youree sardar ("head or authority") has enlisted the PCs to investigate the truth of the limbo gith presence at Shub z'Dha.

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Thats right! The youree are the mysterious people of the trees from VA1: Valley of the Five Fires. Believe it or not, this concept reaches back prior to my actual development of the BX psionics rules. Originally, the youree were just supposed to be an alien race that settled in the Valley of the Trees millennia prior to the events of VA1. Eventually, they would need help from the outside world. As the psionics rules started to develop, it became obvious that the youree would have psionic abilities.

I also intend to wrap the Xumaltet concept into the youree history, with a small Xumaltet reference in the expanded Alcazar adventure as well (though in a very minor way there). I'm trying to weave the story threads through the entire series to create a greater fabric of myth around these stories. (BTW, anyone who has read VA1a: The Lost Caverns of Azgot knows there are references to proto-ogres. It is also intended that the evolution from proto-ogre to standard ogre was related to Xumaltet and/or the youree (although I'm still trying to decided exactly how.)

"Valley of the Five Fires" Lead-in Suggestions

First off, I wanted to say "Thank you!" to all the folks who bought Valley of the Five Fires over the last few days. Next, I wanted to address a very good question that came up over the weekend.

"Because this is levels 4-9, what is the most perfect lead in module(s)
you can recommend to go with this?"

Welbo and I are actually working on a low-level module to do this very thing (tentatively intended to be module "VA0"), as well as plant some seeds for a third module ("VA2") that would act as a companion to the setting AND utilize the BX psionics system I've been developing. That being said, it doesn't really address the need for "now."

When I originally wrote Valley of the Five Fires, a lot of it was designed to be very flexible in terms of character level. For those seeking a lead-in from levels 1-3 or so, I would suggest the following...

Start by downloading The Lost Caverns of Azgot. It's designed to be part of the setting for Valley of the Five Fires. There are some very general area descriptions with complete flexibility for the DM to add his/her own monsters/treasure (it's got those little "fill in your own" spaces like the original monochrome version of B1: In Search of the Unknown). Given that the caves have been sealed off for so long, I'd suggest skeletons (using the armor and weapons specific to the setting; see. p.16-17 of V5F), as well as some giant rats, spiders, beetles, etc.

From there, you can actually get into the module itself...

The "Stupa of Divine Madness" is also very generic in terms of encounters (there are actually very few monsters, with most of the encounters being thinking/problem-solving in nature).

The "Tower Tomb of the Three Brothers (Bandit Lair)" (pp.48-50) is designed with a "scalable" encounter/treasure format. At the low end, you can run this as an adventure for levels 2-4.

By the time you run the three adventures above, the characters might not quite be at 4th level, but they'll likely be close enough to run a couple of other adventures in the book (possibly with minor tweaking).

From there, I'd suggest "Süm Sakhius (Ogre Lair)" (pp.52-52) and "Deathspire Rock" (p.54).

By the time they've complete the above, they'll like be ready for the major quest in the book, as well as the encounters with the chötgor and the phase giants. (BTW, you might want to throw some oil of etherealness as treasure in some of the earlier adventures. It will really help in those encounters with the phase giants.)

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Valley of the Five Fires Microgame Update

Over the weekend, I finally received my beta print chits/counters for the Valley of the Five Fires microgame. Superior POD is seriously backed up right now, so the chits I'd hoped to have for the NTRPG Con (on June 6th or 7th) just arrived Saturday (June 21st). Even the expected date was more like the 10th or 11th. Knowing the chits would take a while to get here, I delayed finishing up the edits to beta version of the rules, but given the chits are here now, I suppose I can finish this up by end of week. Give me another week or so, and I'll put out the official call for playtesters. (BTW, feel free to express interest here, but please understand I will probably only cull testers from the "official" calls when they happen.)

Valley of the Five Fires Wargame Test/Update Beta Version 98% Ready

Welbo and I actually finished our most recent playtest of the Valley of the Five Fires wargame on Sunday night. Long story short, it was a rousing success! Huzzah! (Which is to say, "I won!")

THE BIG CHANGES...

Combat
The original mechanic was based on a number of d6s rolled equal to the chit's Attack Rating (from 1d6-4d6), both sides rolled, and the difference was subtracted from the lower roller's Wound Points as damage. This was repeated until one of the two combatants was dead. While it seemed good in theory, in practice it was... well... it just wasn't fun. Weaker opponents died pretty much 100% of the time, regardless of whether the advantage was 4d6 to 3d6 or 2d6 to 1d6. The reworked mechanic was based on a 2d6 roll on an odds table (like the ones on this post, but with 2d6 instead of 3d6), and a separate damage roll (based on the result of the 2d6 roll). At first glance, it would seem that 2 rolls per "round" would be more confusing and take longer than 1 roll per "round," but not so. It was smoother, much more balanced, and makes even the 1d6-Attack-Rating Skeletons potentially deadly (but mostly "potentially").

Encounter Wound Points
Given the deadliness of even minor encounters under the new combat paradigm (yes, I used the word "paradigm," what of it?), the Wound Points (i.e., "hit points") for all the animals, monsters, and warriors (player and NPC warriors alike) had to be re-thought. In most cases, their Attack Ratings stayed the same, and only the Wound Points were adjusted (usually down by about 1/2) so that combat resolution didn't take forever.

Added Victory Condition
Originally, winning the game required only acquiring all four of the Luuzhin coins. The updated victory condition requires the player make it back to their base camp to return the acquired coins to their Khan (the player parties are searching on behalf of their respective khans). This creates a bit of a gauntlet during the last moments of play, and creates some extra tension.

TO ANSWER THE PLAYING TIME QUESTION...

Somebody asked the playing time. I think given the most recent experience, whether you're playing with 2, 3, or 4 players, I'm thinking about 2 hours. Ironically, having more players potentially shortens the game time, while fewer players means it could take longer. With a certain number of spaces on the board that have to be investigated, more players means investigating them goes more quickly. And fewer players means investigating them goes much slower (duh).

WHAT'S LEFT...

At this point, I just need to retype the rules to accommodate all the little tweaks we've made along the way, as well as the re-figured combat rules. I'm not quite ready for volunteers yet, but give me a week or so, and keep your eye on this blog. Most likely, the next post I make about the game will be the call for beta playtesters, and I'll tell you what/who we're looking for, and how we'll choose. Welbo and I will probably run a few sessions via Roll20 (with 2 recruits per session), but we'll also likely be sending out some "prototype" versions to a few others (for blind play, without our assistance with the rules).

Valley of the Five Fires Wargame Test/Update

Welbo and I finally had a chance to dig back into playtesting the Valley of the Five Fires wargame last night (using Roll20 rather than face-to-face per our last test). Playing time was approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes from beginning to end (including a bit of set up). It actually went pretty damn well! I can't think of any play contingency encountered that wasn't already dealt with in the rules. And even though I was losing the entire game, the rules allow plenty of chances for come-from-behind victories (and even within the last couple of moves, I still had a chance to come from WAY-WAY-WAY behind and win). We actually played the entire thing out using the standard victory conditions, so 1:45:00 wasn't a bad time.

We just need to tweak the stats for the monster and animal encounters, and may be ready to open testing up to others in the next week or two. (Look for updates/calls to come.)

V5F Microgame: Test Session Report

Last night wasn't so much of a "playtest" of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, as it was a chance to put the encounter/player stats through the ringer. It consisted mostly of rolling d6s, doing some minor math, and trying a bunch of variants.

After the first playtest, were afraid of some of the encounters being too deadly, and others being too much of a pushover. But after a discussion of potential player strategies, we came to the following conclusions:

1) Math is hard.
Seriously... when you're rolling multiple d6s (e.g., one person is rolling 2d6, and the other is rolling 3d6), and then each side gets bonuses to the roll (e.g., 2d6+3 vs 3d6+2), and then you have to subtract the lower roll from the higher, it slows the hell things down! Not what we want in this kind of game. It's different when all of the penalties/bonuses are to a single target number on an attack roll. But when there are modifiers to two opposing rolls, and then you have find the difference, it was WAY too cumbersome.

2) Encounters should be deadly.
The worst that happens is that you "start over" from your home space with a "new" Player Party. Early on in the game, the risk for the Experience Points earned is worth the chance of losing anything you've got. Late in the game, you've hopefully earned enough XP that the encounters aren't so deadly.

3) The pushover encounters are really there as a nuisance.
They force the end of your turn, and the Experience Points earned are almost insignificant. Early on the game, they provide the chance of "safely" earning Experience Points. Late in the game, they remain a nuisance as you race to complete the quest (and win the game).

Here's the conclusion to which we came...
"It was fine the way it was. It needed some tweaks, but not an overhaul."

I think we Welbo and tested the game on New Year's Day, we played it too safe. We were both trying to avoid encounters and acquire the quest items as quickly as possible, and we paid for it... with our lives! (We were playing the "quick" game option where you didn't "start over" when you died, you were just out of the game. We're thinking about eliminating this play option altogether; hopefully it will change the player strategies, so they're not so concerned with dying that they're always trying to play it safe.)

The next full playtest should be interesting. We're looking at trying it through Roll20. If that goes well, we'll probably start reaching out for other virtual playtesters the last week of this month.

Thanks for making the d30 Sandbox Companion #1 at RPGNow for the 5th day in a row!!!

I am humbled by it's reception, and the three 5-star reviews it's garnered.

"... virtually essential for anyone wanting to create a fantasy world (irrespective for the most part of rule system) who would like to take some of the donkey-work out of it."
-Megan R. (★★★★★)

"Tables of infinite inspiration! Either handpick or randomize the results from these tables to run great sessions with zero preparation! Or use this as a writing aid to create complex, multidimensional adventures, and even use it to develop entire campaign settings! Supplied here is more than enough for DMs to pick from so you can emphasize the details important to you and your group.

I strongly suggest using this along with New Big Dragon's other accessory, the d30 DM Companion. This set is one of the best DM resources I have ever seen!"
-Jeffrey K. (★★★★★)

Get the d30 Sandbox Companion in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95), and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95). These introductory prices will only be good until January 30, 2014.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

Valley of the Five Fires Microgame Playtest Report

Welbo and I met yesterday to run the first official playtest of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, and I am more than pleased by the results. Regardless of the detail, play was moderately quick and easy to pick up. More importantly, play really captures the spirit of the module, which was the intention. There is a lot of rich detail to the setting that really comes through in the monster, place, and special encounters.

Really, at this point, we only see two minor issues which need some refinement:

1) the spaces on the map -
are there enough, and are the placed to be fair to all 4 players?

2) the balance of monster attack dice/wound points -
are they balanced enough to provide a challenge but not be unfairly deadly should the player encounter one?

Honestly, if these are the biggest issues at this point, we're in good shape! (I shouldn't get cocky, though. There are a lot of Special NPC encounters we have yet to play through fully.)

2014: A Look Ahead

Yesterday, I took a look back at 2013, so today I'll take a look ahead at 2014. Honestly, a lot of what I have in store for two-zero-one-four will seem familiar. Most of it was started back in 2013 and, being the ADD (that's A-D-D, not A-D-and-D) type that I am, I just had too much going. So you'll see my initial goals for 2014 are ones of completion more than instigation.

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Community Geomorph Project
Now that d30 Sandbox Companion has been put to bed (BTW, thanks for 2 days straight of being at #1 at RPGNow), this is now my highest priority. The group of you that sent in geomorphs as part of the 2nd round call have probably been thinking, "What the hell?" for quite some time. My current goal is to have that round completed for review by mid-January, then make a third and final call for geomorphs for the initial edition (as I imagine it will expand over time). I'm still trying to decide the best way for this project to benefit the CCFA, and hope to have that figured out in the next few weeks as well.

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The Lost Catacombs of Kadmos
Many of you may remember this from my A-to-Z blog posts during April. After a couple of play sessions, I realized there were a lot of encounters that were great conceptually, but LOUSY at the table. It also needs a lot of illustrations (the "show-the-players" kind, a la Tomb of Horrors). I've actually got a completely revised map and a set of updated encounters ready to go in Roll20. I'm still getting the hang of running a game there, but if any of you might be interested in heeding Kadmos's call for first-level adventurers (either in BX/LL or a modified BX/LL), drop a comment below and let me know which nights are good for you (except Mondays). I'll update more on this later, probably mid-to-late February. I'm also thinking about running this at the North Texas RPG Con should it be ready and my schedule allow.

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Dragon Horde Zine #2
I have a good number of the articles written, but I have a few new spells I'd like to add, and the adventure needs a bit of reworking. I think I can have this ready to go be the end of January. If I get my inkjet printer repaired, I will most likely be offering print copies of both this issue, and issue #1. The interior will be printed on my laser printer, but it can't handle the cover stock I have in mind for the cover.

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Valley of the Five Fires Microgame
Okay, I'm super-freaking-excited about this one. I've written a microgame based on my Valley of the Five Fires module. In fact, as many of you are reading this, Welbo and I are actually playtesting it (our first scheduled gaming activities of 2014). The game is designed for 2-4 players and is sort of a "race" to acquire the Luuzhin Coins (the artifacts from the module). As you can tell from the counters pictured here, there are encounters with phase giants, crimson death worms, etc. I think it really captures everything I love about the setting from the module, but encapsulates it into a Task Force Games style microgame. After Welbo and I run through it a couple of times and I order some test prints of the counters and such, we'll be sending out a few playtest copies (recruitment information to come). I'm thinking April release for this.

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Creature Compendium

Let's face it, I'm just going to keep creating new creatures, and at some point I'm going to just have to say, "Enough already, if this is ever going to see the light of day as a finished work." I'm thinking this will end up as a PDF PWWY beta release that will update over time, and I'll hold off on a print copy until I feel like it's complete. But I'm not sure.

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Gateway to Adventure

This is a project I dug into on my iPad while my wife and I were staying in the hotel that we called home while Winter Storm Cleon had our power knocked out. It's a setting for 1st-5th level characters in a traditional fantasy vein (think of a sandboxy-style group of adventures akin to the D&D B-module series.) I don't want to say much else about this yet because I don't want to detract from the things above that are my "first quarter" focus. But look out for a post titled "What I did on my 'winter' vacation."

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And on the blogging homefront...

There will be more monsters (which will, of course, be added to the growing list of those included in the Creature Compendium).

There will likely be posts from the next phase of Gateway to Adventure work (most likely maps for the adventure locations).

I've got my eyes set on the April A-to-Z blogging challenge (as always), but have not decided on a subject yet (maybe a selection of NPCs for Gateway to Adventure).

As for d30-oriented stuff, Welbo and I feel like we've covered a LOT of ground with the 2 completed books (the d30 DM Companion and the d30 Sandbox Companion), so the d30 stuff I do post in 2014 is likely to be a hodge-podge (though I do have some d30 monster generators in mind, but no plans for a d30 Monster Generator book... yet).

2013: A Look Back

For nearly a month now, I have actually been planning a 2013 retrospective post for today. I guess we all find ourselves at that same place, given the number of similar posts I've seen over the last few days. Following are some of the highlights of my blogging year 2013.

Just a disclaimer: although below you'll see me talk about some products I released, one thing on which I've learned not to concentrate is sales and downloads. If they happen, I'm happy and gracious they do. And being in a creative field (graphic design by trade), my skin thickened to a natural (descending) AC of 0 some twenty or so years ago, so bad reviews or lack of interest don't phase me... much.

d30 Sandbox Companion
Of all the things I've done in the past year, the thing I'm easily most proud of is the d30 Sandbox Companion. In fact, it may be the thing of which I'm most proud since launching this blog. But I have to give props where props are due. I can 100% most assuredly say that if it weren't for Welbo's assistance, this might not have happened. If you can find a statistics-savvy, obsessive compulsive editor, I highly recommend it. It might mean things take a little longer to get done, but it also means you can feel safe that you've thoroughly thought through the end-user experience and how 30-sided math backs that up, not to mention editing content so that my sometimes semi-Gygaxian prose actually makes sense. I also have to thank all of you for this...



I can disclaim all I want about the numbers not being important to me, but... damn, that makes me feel good (no pun intended about the #2 listing in the image above).

Valley of the Five Fires
I'd like to think that everything I do is a passion project, but Valley of the Five Fires was almost more of an obsession project. I started back in 2012 with a couple of Mongol-inspired monsters for William Dowie's Mongol-themed adventure contest, and before I knew it, I was creating a Mongol-inspired sandbox setting complete with new armor, weapons information, a bunch of new monsters, pre-gen NPCs, background info on the region, and a bunch of smaller, self-contained adventures. This was really one of those things that just got out of hand very quickly and, like a painter and his painting, I just sort of had to see it to its end. I'm also extremely proud of this, even though I realize that anything that steps outside of the Tolkien-esque world of most RPGs is not everyone's cup of tea.

The Ogress of Anubis
I'll be honest. I really don't remember how the hell this thing started. I got back from the North Texas RPG Con revved up from the experience, and was waiting on proof print copies of Valley of the Five Fires, and just sort of banged this out. I ran a quick playtest session, made some tweaks, and released it. Imagine my surprise when I saw a post on the RPG.net forums listing Ogress of Anubis as one of his favorite 3 OSR adventures/modules. I've put some preliminary work together on a continuation adventure tentatively titled Viziers of the Shadow City, but I'm guessing it will be 2015 before it sees print (though I imagine it will see some tableplay late in 2014).

And so on...
This wasn't everything, of course. I published my first zine (albeit digital only), I put out a whole bunch of new monsters, and I continued my goal of featuring artists from the golden age of illustration. Not to mention, at the North Texas RPG Con, I got to play in a test for Michael Curtis's RPG Shiverwhen, and I survived (and got killed) by James Ward.

I've also got a bunch of stuff planned for 2014. But if you want to find out about those, you'll have to wait for tomorrow's post.

Feeling a bit nomadic...

Nicholas Roerich. Mongolia. 1938. Tempera on canvas. State Museum of Oriental Arts, Moscow, Russia.

I normally try not to post personal stuff, so I'm going to do my best to wrap this back into gaming by the end.

As many of you know, I'm a Dallasite. We, like many others, have been victims of winter storm Cleon. My sister facebooked the other night... "Jim Cantore is in Dallas. You're screwed." I spoke a client of mine in NYC on Friday morning and started the sentence, "Jim Cantore's in Dallas—,” which he promptly completed with “You're screwed."

I was going to give the play-by-play from day-to-day, but I'll give you the Readers Digest version instead...

Friday morning, I woke up really early, and was in front of the computer by 5:30 a.m. I had JUST started scanning and retouching the final illustrations for the d30 Sandbox Companion when the power went out (about 6 a.m.) My wife and I spent the morning at home, then headed to my brother's that afternoon. He lives 6 blocks from me, but still had power. At 6 p.m., HIS power went out. My wife and I scrambled to find a hotel room and get the dogs boarded, so we hauled our stuff (most of which was packed in a big, blue Ikea bag) and braved the icy roads to get to the closest decent place we could find a room (which was not that close).

Since then, it's been a wait-and-see game with electric service folks and the other contractor's they've called from the surrounding areas (including Alabama?) fighting to service what must be hundreds and hundreds of downed lines in the area (due to icy limbs on trees which have come crashing down).

On Saturday night, we moved to a hotel closer to the house. We checked out Sunday morning and hoped for the best. When dusk started to fall, we got word from our neighbor it might be DAYS before power to our orphan of a cul-de-sac is restored. We live in a weird space where many of the lines come in through overgrown back alleys and not close enough to major intersections to warrant more attention).

Sunday night, we went by the house, got my desktop computer (so I could actually continue to service my clients' needs as the week begins) and headed back to hotel numero dos. Same hotel as Saturday night, but different room. At this point, the plan is to stay here at least another day, and hope we don't find ourselves wasting money on leaving past the accepted cancellation deadline. (My wife and I are very lucky to be able to make a bit of a "vacation" out of this.)

I am craving stability. With my wife and my sad Ikea-bagged necessities, my thoughts have been on the nomads of Mongolia.

When I researched and wrote Valley of the Five Fires, I spent a lot of time researching yurts and gers. I trust William over at Ramblings of a Great Khan when he says, “Yurts are kind of a pain in the ass to set up." But he also says, they are the "palaces of the world." They provide this tremendous sense of stability for a nomadic peoples. The door always faces south, the west interior is reserved for the males and tools, the east interior is reserved for females and cooking accoutrements, and the north interior is reserved for elders and others as the place of honor. In the center is the stove that warms them. Around the walls and over the floors are the blankets that insulate the yurt. Everything has its place, no matter in which part of the steppe these travlers find themselves.

Given the last few days, I can appreciate that stability.

My bed faced west on Friday, north on Saturday, and south on Sunday.

At least there's always a coffee maker in the room. That seems to help.

Free "Adventure": The Lost Caverns of Azgot

First off, the reason I put the word "Adventure" in quotes, it's because it's not so much an adventure as it is a locale - a fully-described locale, but generally "empty" in regards to monster and treasure. This was an intended support piece for Valley of the Five Fires, and I still like the story it sets up, but it never really came together as an adventure. I think it's got a pretty cool backstory, but anything I would have stocked it with wouldn't really have fit well in the context of the module, so I dropped it.

Unlike the freebies I usually put up on the Free Downloads page, this one is available from RPGNow, since the last page is a pretty blatant promotion for the complete Valley of the Five Fires module (available in print from Lulu.com, and available in PDF from RPGNow).
BTW, the 5th page is not previewed below, but is pretty much the same as this.

Click here to go to the RPGNow page for
Old School Adventures™ Mini-Module VA1a:
The Lost Caverns of Azgot.

A Look Inside My Crowded Head Sketchbooks

About the time I started this blog, Borders book store was liquidating itself, and I picked up a shitload of Picadilly Essential Notebooks sketchbooks (BTW, this particular line was sold exclusively through Borders, and my horde is dwindling.)

So, here I am, about a week past the two year anniversary of this blog, and I thought I'd take a look back through my sketchbooks and share some pages. I'm always interested to see the way others work, and thought many of you might be interested in the same.

From Sketchbook I...
this is one of the pages where I was working out the gem values for the d30 DM Companion.

From Sketchbook II...
I was watching one of those Syfy or Discovery Channel specials when I statted up the Crimson Death Worm.

From Sketchbook III...
a Ziggurat I drew up, but which never went any further than a few pages of half-formed ideas. I'm sure we all have plenty of those.

From a sketchbook labeled "Illustration" that eventually just took its place as Sketchbook IV...
A drawing of a creature based on some results generated from Appendix D in Dungeon Masters Guide, "Random Generation of Creatures from the Lower Planes." I think I might have took some leeway here; I don't remember. Almost a year-and-a-half later, I'm still trying to decide whether I'm going to use it for something or not (though if I do, I already know where).

From Sketchbook V...
A monster I obviously statted up, but never did anything with. Particularly, I never sketched/illustrated it. I recall thinking it would be generally crab-like (but I guess the name "Snipper" and a "pincer" attack pretty much imply that).

From Skethbook VI...
This was the final rough version of "The Stupa of Divine Madness" from The Valley of the Five Fires. This went through several iterations before being refined into this very-close-to-final version. Some additional refinements were made when the map and encounters were committed to final form.

From Sketchbook VII...
This is the rough introduction I wrote for the Lost Catacombs of Kadmos. (BTW, I'll be starting this up in Roll20 soon, and looking to recruit some online players.)

From Sketchbook VIII (which is only about half-full so far)...
This is a chart I was trying to work up that, with the roll of 2d6s, would determine a player's character class (using BX classes). It's workable, but not flawless.

d30 Sandbox Final Stretch + Other Goings On/Updates

So first, an answer to the questions, "Why haven't you been posting much lately?" and "What the hell is up with the d30 Sandbox Companion?" My client workload has been the major culprit in eating/sucking my free time. But I've also been working on a lot of things in the background, without constantly posting about them or pulling snips from them to talk about.

d30 Sandbox Companion
I've finished up the drafts of the final 2 items for the book... the Wilderness Mapping Key (below) and the "How to Use this Book" section (which covers the pages in the book for the Hex Crawl Worksheet, Settlement Worksheet, and NPC Record Sheet.) That just leaves Welbo and I to finish proofing/editing. (BTW, it looks like there may 2 blank pages in the book, so I might have to develop a couple of new items to go here -- possibly other worksheets of some sort.)

Other Goings On
I have not been slacking in my blogging absence:

I have finished the writing on issue #2 of the Dragon Horde Zine. I just need to run a couple of playtest sessions for the adventure. Be on the lookout this week for a more complete update... including the possibility of offering #2 IN PRINT!!! (As well as the possibility of doing print back issues of #1.)

I've created a microgame based on my module Valley of the Five Fires. Again, just need to run a playtest or two of this internally before recruiting a few playtesters and sending them copies (counters/chits and all!) Again, stay tuned for information.

And, finally, I've started work on a "Golem Index," similar to my other Monster Indexes. Hope to have this posted next week.

Now here's a peek at the Wilderness Key from the d30 Sandbox Companion.

Now Available: Valley of the Five Fires in Print & PDF+ Video Walkthrough & Twitter Winners!+ Ogress of Anubis now in print!

First off, congrats to the winners of my Valley of the Five Fires Twitter Giveaway: Art Braun (Print+PDF copies); Tim Knight (PDF copy); Dave Millar (PDF Copy). Winners, please send your email address to V5F@newbigdragon.com (and, Art, please include your snail mailing address and phone number), and I'll get you guys taken care of.

I've already done some Valley of the Five Fires pagination previews of the 56-page interior on this one, but I thought it also deserved a video walkthrough (at bottom of post).

Valley of the Five Fires PDF: $4.95 from RPGNow >>
Valley of the Five Fires Print: $11.95 from Lulu >>

Plus, if you enjoyed the free PDF of The Ogress of Anubis that's available at RPGNow,
and you really want a print copy, now you can get the 16-page
The Ogress of Anubis in print at only 25 cents above cost! ($5.95) from Lulu >>

And now for my fancy video walkthrough...



Also, thanks for everyone's response to my first foray into the zine and pay-what-you-want worlds, The Dragon Horde (available in PDF from RPGNow). For a brief period or two during the weekend, you helped me outrank the D&D Rules Cyclopedia PDF in the top 5 of RPGNow's Hot 100! I cannot tell you how absolutely cool that felt!

Art Braun, Dave Millar, and Tim Knight!!! COME ON DOWN!!!

Congrats to the winners of my Valley of the Five Fires Twitter Giveaway!

I realized that I'd let this slip, and with the Valley of the Five Fires being released tomorrow, I needed to roll for the winners of my twitter follower giveaway.

Art Braun is the big winner of the Print+PDF, with Dave Millar of Dave's Mapper and Tim Knight of Heropress both winning PDF copies!

If you guys will all email your emails to me at V5F@newbigdragon.com, I'll get the PDFs sent out to you tomorrow a.m. Art, please include your mailing address and a phone number (Lulu deliveries require that), and I'll get the print copy ordered for you.

CONGRATS, FOLKS! AND THANKS FOR FOLLOWING ME ON TWITTER! (@NewBigDragon1)

d30 Sandbox Companion Update

I know what you're thinking... "Between cranking out The Ogress of Anubis, putting the finishing touches on Valley of the Five Fires, and getting back on top of the Community Geomorph Project, there's no way this jackleg is working on the d30 Sandbox Companion."

NOT SO! In fact, I just finished the final "new" piece of content for the book (pictured below)—a chart to determine habitations by population density (I also used population density for the road encounters). The only things left to do are: 1) finish the Master Hex Mapping Key (the wilderness equivalent of the Master Dungeon Mapping Key), 2) refine a few of the tables to "enhance" usability (like the henchmen/hireling recruitment pages, and the weather generator pages), and 3) finish the "how to use this book" section.

You'd think the "how to use this book" section would be as easy as, "Roll 1d30 and index the result." But what Welbo and I are trying to do with it, is to (in a de facto way) show how the tables are ordered/used to coincide with the use of things like the Hex Crawl Worksheet, Settlement Worksheet, and NPC Record Sheet.

Right now, the target release date is mid-to-late August. Given we are where we are, that Valley of the Five Fires should be ready within days, and all Welbo and I should need are about 3-4 working sessions on the intro, I think that should be do-able.

I thank you all for your patience over the last year-and-a-half. But I think that you'll find the extra time and attention we've given this tome has been truly worth it. This 52-page beauty will not have a wasted page in it!

By the way, I think I know what the next d30 volume will be—but you'll have to wait until the d30 Sandbox Companion is out before I'll commit to it in writing.

Win It Before You Can Buy It: Valley of the Five Fires

I'm almost done with Valley of the Five Fires.

I gots me a twitter account.

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/NewBigDragon1
(PLEASE NOTE THE "1" AT THE END!;
some jackleg got my "@" before me, so twitter added the "1".)

I will be tweeting from the North Texas RPG Con.

Some time on Sunday, after the con is over, I will randomly choose one lucky twitter follower to receive a PDF and print copy of Valley of the Five Fires; also, 2 randomly-selected runners up will receive PDF copies.

The winners will be sent their copies when the book is released mid-to-late next week.

Any questions?