Yea Ole Ugly Zombie Mugshot in Print

A few weeks back, I posted the three pictures drawn by the masterful Byron Rempel as part of his 1000 Zombies project. Those drawings plus an additional 47 have been combined into his first book – 1000 Zombies: The first 50 zombies of the 1000 zombie art project. The first volume is available on Create Space as a printed work for $17.99 or in electronic format directly from Byron’s website for $3.99. Additionally, he has a select set of individual high resolution images available for sale as well. Still not enough options? He also has t-shirts available.

I picked up one of the first copies off the Create Space press. The quality of the book is fantastic. The layout is gorgeous. Not that I expected anything less from Bryon but I was beyond happy. Each of the individuals has a backstory along with the drawing. Wheels, Garrett, and myself are featured close to the end since we were rounding out the last portion of the first 50. I have no complaints. First time my ugly mug showed up in a book and I’m a MF’ing zombie. Sweet.

Prepare Yourself

Word Search: LBB – Clerical Spells

A classic word search puzzle taken from the three little brown books (LBB) describing Original Dungeons and Dragons. This puzzle is the first of the series which will post on Wednesdays. Over the coming weeks, an additional 15 puzzles will be posted all derived from various tables, lists and text of the original volumes.

Download (PDF, 31.93KB)

Tweak and Tune: Labyrinth Lord Generators

As with all random generation systems, there are details which result that you just are not happy with. Tonight a few defective elements were tackled. #1 on the list was the Monster Stocker. Inline treasure generation was changed to be optional rather than assumed. Treasure should be a function of the situation not just implied by the default Hoard Class.

Next on the list was the over zealous approach to magical equipment for Non-Player Characters. The NPC code is utilized not only by the Monster Stocker but also by the NPC Generator. The original code used a fixed constant as a multiplier based on character level. The result was a lot of magic in far too many results. The replacement is an exponential function to significantly increase the odds high level NPCs have magic while eliminating many spurious results for lower levels. Additionally, the average magical bonus for equipment was changed to be more inline with charts.

Overall, the changes create far more useful results. The DM can always tweak up as desired but constant need for reduction was annoying. Erring on the low side is far more useful than being prolific.

If I were an academic…

Most projects I start, end quite quickly. Inspiration must be found immediately to translate into something worth doing. Otherwise its tossed in the mental bin. For several months, my intention was to read the LBB’s in detail and try to produce at least something of an opinion. The scribbled notes are as chaotic as the source material. Mostly the bits indicate, ‘ahh, that’s where that started’ followed shortly by a number of things marginally related to the original thought.

The realization nothing will come of the effort is not new. The notes sat patiently. Words on paper feel no rush to be consumed. They just are. Weeks later, I realized those words were lists. Annotations of tables and charts looking for an outlet. My pen wasn’t about to expose new knowledge. The words themselves were the discovery.

What to do with them? Hide them again under a pile of other paper? Nay, they were to be hidden amid other letters. I loved word search puzzles as a kid. The same era when the original tomes were scribed into lists. So I began something and while it can never be complete, thirty weeks of word search puzzles begin on Wednesday. The first 17 are derived directly from the LBB’s. Thirteen more were extracted from Greyhawk – Supplement I.

Do You Want to Play in Garbage?

I ripped off that intro to announce that Dylan Hartwell’s latest Labyrinth Lord™ module has been added to the ever expanding list of available modules. Dylan’s latest incarnation is completely different than what you would expect in a traditional setting and adventure. I’ll let it speak for itself.

The Horrendous Heap of Sixteen Cities!

Extending above a haze of reeking steam rise sixteen peaks of garbage magically transported from sixteen different cities. It spreads, like an ever-growing fungus, across the landscape, encompassing and corrupting nearly fifty square miles. Hideous flies, crows, and vultures circle the piles, perpetually avoiding garbage falling from magical portals thousands of feet in the air. Giant rats, skunks, maggots, and other manner of repugnant beasts scuttle about the surface, surviving off the offal. Underneath, giant worms crawl through the debris. Periodic explosions reform the horizon. Some cultures call it “Sheoal”, others “Kol Katta”. All, however, use the common vernacular “The Heap”. And everywhere its name is synonymous with “Hell”.

THE HORRENDOUS HEAP OF SIXTEEN CITIES! is a sandbox fantasy adventure. Contained within are original and terrifying monsters, maps of The Heap, and multiple adventures for months of play.

17 New Monsters
3 Maps
5 Detailed Non-Player Characters
More than 25 Original Illustrations
7 Plot Hooks

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The Horrendous Heap is available now on RPGNow.

Kickstarter Love: Mortiston, USA

I was aware of Welcome to Mortiston, USA: An All American Zombie Apocalypse as a project. I was not aware of it being a Kickstarter project until today. Mortiston is either a standalone or drop in setting for the zombie apocalypse. From the blurb…

“Welcome to Mortiston, USA” is a multi-system zombie apocalypse set in an “average” American town. The setting is licensed for five different RPG game systems. All game stats are included for immediate integration into any game of Outbreak: Undead, Savage Worlds, The Modern Path for Pathfinder, Rotworld and OGL Modern. Mortiston needs heroes who can step up to the challenge, or only the dead and the damned will walk the streets, or something far, far worse…

The Kickstarter project’s goal is to get the book printed not to develop and release it. The work is already completed — something quite unusual for a project. Plus it supports multiple systems out of the box including ROTWORLD, which I like but have yet to play. If you are familiar with any of the systems, it would be trivial to convert to another system you’d prefer for the game.

As of this writing, the project is a mere $89 from fully funded. The books will be released in June. A release date within a month is instant gratification in the project world. Like most, Mortiston offers many levels of support are available with oodles of extras.

If you’ve been considering a zombie game but holding off due to a lack of a setting, this project could be a perfect match. Give it a look.

Namespace: Wild West Names

The third Namespace volume was released on DriveThruRPG today. Wild West Names contains over one thousand male, one thousand female, and ten thousand surnames collated from 1860 to 1890 United States sources. The sixty page PDF provides pure names like the other Namespace editions and is priced at $0.89.

The price for Given Names from Medieval and Ancient Times and Surnames from Medieval and Ancient Times returned to non-sale pricing of $0.99 and 0.89 respectively. Alternatively, the Medieval volumes can be purchased as a bundle for $1.58.

Sales since the launch of the products have surpassed expectations including twenty two copies of the bundled volumes, ten copies of given names, and eight individual sales of surnames. The sales were sufficient to load up on some stock art to adorn the interior pages of the secret project for June.

Finally, the free Treasure Book on Demand was downloaded 185 times, dwarfing the for sale products. The book has always been free and will remain so. The release was intended to raise awareness of the Labyrinth Lord™ utilities available from Mithril & Mages to an audience who may not have seen them. Finally, TBoD was the only product to be rated and was pegged at 5 stars.