Creature Compendium Update

As I'm winding down the production of Expanded Petty Gods and getting to the point where nothing is left but a couple of dozen pieces of art and the proofing rounds (which will still take another month or so), I'm trying to get back finishing up a couple of New Big Dragon products that were near completion before I dove into finishing Expanded Petty Gods.

Number one on that agenda... the Creature Compendium.

Welbo and I had a chance to make a pass of some monster tweaks last night, and plan another round before the end of the weekend. That means the final version will hopefully be in the proofer's hands next week.

One of the things I'm considering for Creature Compendium is putting out two versions... the "Standard Edition" I've planned all along (the top image below) and a "Premium Edition" (the bottom image below). The only physical differences between the two editions will be that the Premium Edition will have a black cover with a color illustration, and the interior paper will be of a higher grade (possibly). I'm planning on some deliverable differences between the two, however. The Standard Edition will be available through Lulu at a "value" price, and the PDF will have to be bought separately from RPGNow (but it will also be "value" priced). However, for about the same total cost of the value-priced PDF plus print edition, you will be able to get the Premium Edition. The Premium Edition will be available directly from the New Big Dragon Storefront, and will include a free PDF with the Premium Edition color cover (the standard PDF will feature the monochrome cover; this color cover PDF version will be available only to purchasers of the Premium Edition). I'm also considering adding to the Premium Edition a free print copy of a new mini-module (a PDF of which will be available for free to anyone at RPGNow).

Even better news, I'm looking at changing the shipping options on the New Big Dragon Storefront to go from Priority Mail to Media Mail, getting rid of the added shipping charge for U.S. purchases, and OFFERING AN INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING "ADD ON" OPTION!!!

Review: Vikings Season 3 Premier ("Mercenary")

I rarely do reviews around here, preferring to limit my posts to one of the following: new content for the game table, updates any of the various gaming projects with which I'm involved, informative pieces for RPG self-publishers, cool old RPG-related stuff that might otherwise go unnoticed, or historic looks at really old old-school art. So think of today as more of an exception, rather than an introduction.

For a couple of years now, I've been a fan of the History Channel's series Vikings, but really as more of an extension of the Barbarians documentary series. But this as I watched "Mercenary", the season 3 premier episode of Vikings (which my DVR recorded a couple of days ago), I sat there feeling like the show has sort of lost my attention (and has me considering canceling my series record settings on my DVR). It took me most of the episode to figure out why, and when I did, it turns out it's really pretty obvious... more and more the series seems to be over-saturating my retinas with panoramic landscape shots and extended battle scenes. This shouldn't surprise me; after all, it's the visual heart and soul of almost every History Channel documentary ever made on this subject matter. What it lacks (IMHO) is the director's sense of what's happening in the scene.

Compare Vikings to something like Breaking Bad. In Breaking Bad, as a general rule of thumb, every scene thoughtfully explores what's happening below the surface in that scene, and visually constructs the scene to support the emotion of that scene. In Vikings, more and more I'm getting the feeling that the composition of the shots is more important than what's happening in the scene; what I end up getting is a melange of unemotional panoramic shots showcasing the water or the mountains, or what's being loaded onto the boats, rather than what is happening between characters or with individual characters. And when I do get a close-up, it's really just a way of launching into the scene, and has nothing to do what's going on with the characters in the scene.

In TV fiction, I want engaging characters and storytelling (dialog, direction, cinematography) that support that. Maybe if I was getting some informative historical narration over the imagery, I'd feel like I was getting more out of it.

To quote Marlene from Seinfeld, "It just didn't make it for me. It's just so much fluff."

Expanded Petty Gods Update

I don't have much time, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Recap: Copy layout for the entire book has been done for a week or so (minus the explanatory notes for each section). Matthew Skail is working on the stats editing, but it ended up being a bit more cumbersome than I originally anticipated, so I've given him a bit more time. (That means sending things out for copy styles proofing may not happen until mid-to-late next week.)

Art from the title page through the introduction is complete.

Art for the "Petty Gods" section is complete through the M's (minus a couple of small column filler illustrations).

There are still a handful of illustrations to be completed for the rest of the "Petty Gods" section and the "Minions" section.

Art for the "Cults" section is complete.

There are a handful of spot illustration spaces for the "Divine Items" and "Spells" sections, and only 1 space in the Appendix. I'm not going to worry about these until the rest of the artholes are filled.

Expanded Petty Gods "Stats Editor" Need:

Thanks to Matthew Skail for taking this on! Based on the input he's been giving me for the Basic Psionics Handbook, I know he'll do a bang-up job on it.

I need somebody (a single person) who feels like they have a pretty good mastery of Labyrinth Lord (or BX D&D) from a stats point of view. I need that person (who will get a supporting editor credit in the book) to go through the layout and add the missing stats. This will mostly be:
– XP for some gods/minions (most of them have this stat, but maybe 5-10% don't)
– alignments, saving throws and XP for divine (magic) items (there are about 2-3 dozen entries that need these)
– other missing stats here and there

There will be a separate round for content edits/proofing later (to be handled by a different person or persons). This is specifically a "fill-in-the-missing-stats" need. This person will NOT need to go back through the other stats to check/correct them. They will just need to perform a search for each "TBD" that appears in the book, review the related entry, then tag the "TBD" with a comment/note with the missing information (based on the description).

I would prefer somebody who's already familiar with adding comments to a PDF (though the learning curve on this is next to nothing), but my bigger concern is that the person feel really comfortable committing LL/BX stats to the missing items.

I'm not sure how many hours this will take (guessing as few as 2 or 3, but as many as 7 or 8), but I'd love to have the marked up version back by the middle of next week, so I can update the file with the notes and get it out for the next round of proofing next weekend.

Anybody interested, please email pgcopy(at)newbigdragon(dot)com with the subject line "Stat Editor?" And I'll go from there.

IF YOU COMMENT BELOW TO VOLUNTEER, I WILL STILL ASK YOU TO EMAIL ME AT THE ADDRESS ABOVE. (It is very difficult to track this kind of thing through a comment chain; thanks for understanding.)

Expanded Petty Gods Update

Don't have a ton of time for this (busy work day, even for a holiday). I'll be brief, but I wanted to share progress.

Apart from the indexes, THE ENTIRE BOOK IS LAID OUT!!! It clocks in at 384 PAGES!!! (not including the indexes, will will have to be the absolutely last thing added to the book). There are plenty of artholes left to be filled, there is still a bit of content missing on the "Minions" and "Cults" sections, and there is some tweaking to be done to the "Spells" section... but that's it!!!

Artwork is continuing to ooze in... and the latest submissions are killer! (I will try to do a post in the next couple of days showing off some of the newer submissions.)

If I can keep the art needs on track, I'm still aiming for release by the end of February. (Those who are waiting, keep your fingers crossed. Those who are slated for art contributions, keep those pens/styluses busy... and THANK YOU!)

Expanded Petty Gods: Call for Spells (due 1/15/15!)

VERY IMPORTANT!!! The Gods, Minions, and Divine Items sections of the book are COMPLETELY CLOSED FOR NEW CONTENT! If you add a spell, please do not add a minion, god, or divine item!!! Thanks for understanding.

Got spells?

Do you have any god-related spells? Or do you have any ideas for god-related spells.

Or spells for clerics (or magic-user followers) of certain types of petty gods?

If you wrote a god (or gods) for the Petty Gods book, why not write a spell associated with that god? 

Feel free to post spells in the comments section below (but be sure to inclulde your name as you'd like your credit to appear).

OR SEND SPELLS TO: pgcopy(at)newbigdragon(dot)com

Deadline is this Thursday, January 15th (I'll cull Friday a.m., first thing)

In the format below, the "Affiliations" can be VERY loose (e.g., petty gods of molds and fungi, petty gods of vegetation, petty gods that use battle axes, petty gods related to books/scribes/writing instruments, etc.) or specific (e.g., Morbiphalligus, petty god of venereal diseases and sexual afflicitons — yes, I wrote that god myself!).

FORMAT TO FOLLOW (BX/Labyrinth Lord):

Name of Spell 

Affiliations: Name of Petty God, Pantheon, Minion and/or Cult

Level: # Class

Range: Touch (or) #'

Duration: # rounds (or) # turns

Put any saving throw information, total HD effected, total creatures effected, etc. in the body description (use BX or LL as your "go by" for this). Do not include in range/duration above.

SOME OF MY SPELLS FOR EXPANDED PETTY GODS:

Animate Fallen Warrior

Affiliation: The Fallen One, petty god of fallen warriors

Level: 5 Magic-user

Range: 60'

Duration: 1 turn

Similar to the spell animate dead, this spell animates a number of recently deceased warriors (who died within the last turn). The number of warriors that may be animated is equal to the level of the spellcaster plus 1d6. Each animated warrior fights and saves as a 1 HD monster (with 1d8 hp). Like all undead, animated warriors are immune to sleep, charm, and hold, but are susceptible to the effects of turning. They will remain animated until all of their hp are lost, or until 1 turn has passed (whichever comes first). This spell may only be used on any fallen warrior once, after which they will immediately be taken up by The Fallen One.

Related Entries: G) Fallen One.

Locate Jade

Affiliation: Jaiden, petty goddess of jade

Level: 1 Cleric/Magic-user

Range: 60' + 10'/level

Duration: 6 turns

As the spell locate object, but only locates the presence of jade. The duration and range are doubled for clerics dedicated to the petty goddes Jaiden. The spell does not work through lead.

Related Entries: G) Jaiden.

Touch of Morbiphalligus

Affiliation: Morbiphalligus, petty god of venereal diseases and sexual afflictions

Level: 3 Cleric

Range: Touch

Duration: Indefinite

On a successful “to hit” roll, this spell infects the target with an extreme form of venereal disease (no saving throw). The effects of the touch are determined by the level of the spellcaster as outlined below:

[effects table to come]

This spell may be counteracted by remove curse or cure disease. If cast by clerics dedicated to the petty god Morbiphalligus, all saving throws are made with a -2 penalty.

Related Entries: G) Morbiphalligus.

Pallid Veil

Affiliations: The Yellow King, petty god of the madness that comes with old age

Level: 1 Cleric/2 Magic-user

Range: Touch

Duration: 6 turns

The target  of this spell is made to appear 5 years younger per level of the spellcaster (though they are not actually physically aged). It is used mainly by the elder members of the Pallid Conclave to appear younger, and thereby enable them move infiltrate groups of younger people, helping the cult to more easily spread the chaos and madness of the Yellow King. Reluctant victims are allowed a save vs. spell.

Related Entries: G) Yellow King; C) Pallid Conclave.

Jaundice Veil

Affiliations: The Yellow King, petty god of the madness that comes with old age

Level: 5 Cleric/Magic-user

Range: 240'

Duration: See below

The target of this spell succumbs to two different effects: first, they are made to appear 10 years older per level of the spellcaster (though they are not physically made older); second, they are affected as by a feeblemind spell. Separate saving throws must be made for each effect. To avoid the effects of the aging, the victim must make a successful save vs. paralysis. To avoid the effects of the feeblemind, the victim must make a successful save vs. spell at -3. The aging effects last for a number of days equal to the level of the spellcaster. The duration of the feeblemind effects will remain until counteracted by dispel magic.

Expanded Petty Gods Update

I'd like to begin by apologizing for not posting Expanded Petty Gods updates more often. I know that's one area where Greg Gorgonmilk was particularly good (sharing ongoing contributions, etc.) where I have maybe not been so good. But things are chugging along nonetheless.

CONTENT
As mentioned several days ago, the open collection of content is essentially closed for the "Petty Gods" and "Minions" sections. At this point, a few folks are working on some "filler" gods and minions to assist the layout with page breaks, etc. I've also received all the outstanding cult entries. (Right now, there are 10 cults; I think for the section to feel nice and full, that number should be 15, so I may do a couple of "cult speed rounds" next week.)

ROUGH LAYOUT
I've moved into the layout of the Appendices of the book (with the Spells section to follow). The Petty Gods, Minions, Divine Items, and Cults sections are essentially laid out. With the appendices that have been laid out so far, the total page count stands at about 335 pages. I imagine the Spells section will take about 10-15 pages, and the remaining Appendixes will take about 20-30. So by the time the indexes are added to everything else, the total page count will likely be right around 400 pages (as I've suspected for a while).

ART NEEDS
Wednesday's call for artists seemed to work. While there are still 50+ god illustrations that need to be assigned, the minions art need was CUT IN HALF! There are now less than 15 minion illustrations left to assign!!! (Woo-hooh!) Thanks to all who stepped up the challenge (né guilt trip). I still feel like this may be the biggest stumbling block on the path to getting the final version published. The holiday break has given several artists the chance to catch up on art assignments that have been hanging, and given new/additional artists the opportunity to crank out an illustration or two. But the world will go back to its normal schedule next week, so we'll see how it goes.

A NOTE TO CONTRIBUTORS
Feel free to share the things you've been creating for Expanded Petty Gods (art, text, whatever). With so much content coming in and getting into the layout over the last few weeks, its been hard for me to choose who/what to feature fairly. There are so many great things coming in, and so little time to blog them (e.g., in the last week alone, I got four great cults!). This is that area where I mentioned Greg was much better about it than me. So for now, I'll stay "asses and elbows" on keeping this train moving, and trust that the contributors will fly the EPG banner as they share to their blogs and Google+ pages the wonderful things they've been contributing.